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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Luigi Mangione Indicted In Murder Of UnitedHealthcare CEO; Police Still Don't Know Motive In Wisconsin School Shooting; Lawmakers Receive Classified Briefing On Suspicious Drones; Source: Ukraine Behind Bomb That Killed Top Russian General; Trump Sues Pollster & Des Moines Register Newspaper. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired December 17, 2024 - 16:00   ET

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

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Governor Kathy Hochul was running a conference call with the heads of health care companies and other CEOs and police officials talking about their safety.

[16:00:10]

But we'll get back to that. As far as the charge goes, the first degree murder charge requires it to be the murder of a police officer, of a judge or a court officer far as the charge goes, the first degree far as the charge goes, the first degree murder charge requires it to be the murder of a police officer, of a judge, of a court officer, of a -- of a parole officer. It's an attack against the system.

But there is one other attachment to 495 of the New York state law, which is the terrorism law. New York state, aside from the federal government, has one of the broadest and most comprehensive anti- terrorism laws on a state level.

And because of the type of murder this was, a planned hit, staking out the CEO of a health care company where the individual, Luigi Mangione charged with it was arrested, allegedly carrying a three page document, a so-called claim of responsibility or -- or a manifesto, as its been referred to, attacking the health care industry and saying these parasites had it coming, these mafioso had to be taught a lesson, that that indicates that he was doing that within that first degree murder statute and the terrorism enhancement to coerce or influence members of the public on a on a policy matter.

So that is highly unusual. But below that we see the other charges murder in the second degree as an act of terrorism, murder in the second degree with intent, possession of a weapon to wit, the ghost gun, possession of a weapon, the silencer, possession of an assault weapon, meaning the ghost gun had a magazine that could carry more than ten rounds in violation of New York state law.

So you see that they lined up a series of charges that will eventually give a jury a set of choices, which I think Stacy can address better than me in terms of how many charges they put on and how many are closely related.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Stacy, I'm going to come to you in one second, but let me go to Shimon Prokupecz, who was at the press conference.

Tell us more about what District Attorney Bragg had to say.

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Look, I mean, essentially what they're calling this by these charges, Jake, is that this was an act of terrorism. They feel that they have enough evidence based on the writings that they were able to obtain from the defendant. Luigi Mangione. That indicates that this was all about fear and fear to the point where to bring this kind of charge. It's kind of unprecedented here in New York City. You know, it's mostly reserved in cases where there's support of terrorism, things like that.

But this is so significant that they went ahead given the writings, given the reaction to what happened here, the praise for Luigi Mangione over what he did. I mean, that was a big part of this press conference, the idea that there is this lack of empathy for the CEO, Brian Thompson, and just the visceral sort of the way people have reacted.

And so all of that, the D.A. says, led them here. They believe that this was now an act of terrorism, that this murder was committed in the furtherance of terrorism, as the statute calls for. And specifically, I asked the D.A. about that statute and he said, quite simply, when you look at what it says, its intent to intimidate or coerce a civilian population influence policy, or affect the conduct of a unit of government by murder or assassination.

And that is exactly what the D.A. and the prosecutors here and investigators feel happened. I mean, when you look at the language that the D.A. used saying, quote, this was a killing intended to invoke terror, talking about the way in which Mangione went about this murder, the planning, the calculated nature, the vicious nature of what they allege he did here.

And the other thing really here, and I think the da hit on this and what's forgotten so much is the victim here. Brian Thompson -- I mean, the police commissioner held up a "New York Post" cover here to show just how people have reacted to what has happened here. And so much hate towards CEOs and so much concern now over the threats that are facing CEOs.

So all of that brought us here today, and I do think -- I do think this is so unprecedented to see this kind of charge being brought here from the D.A.'s office in Manhattan. But there's still a lot more work to do here. And the D.A., of course, reminding folks not to forget about Brian Thompson and his family.

TAPPER: And, Shimon, we're also hearing from the suspect's lawyer on the New York extradition.

[16:05:03]

PROKUPECZ: That's right. So his -- his newly hired lawyer here in Manhattan, Karen Agnifilo -- Karen Friedman Agnifilo, is telling us that he is not going to fight extradition. So it could be, Jake, that on Thursday, we expect to see Luigi

Mangione in court in Pennsylvania on Thursday, on the case in Pennsylvania and an extradition hearing, that by Thursday night, by Thursday night, he could be in the hands of NYPD detectives who would transport him back to Manhattan, where he would be processed and then likely spent some time at Rikers island before he is arraigned by a judge here in Manhattan. And it's expected that he will be held awaiting trial.

And also very significant that he is potentially now facing the rest of his life in prison once he's convicted. Obviously, a lot more to do. And, you know, for the defense team and for prosecutors. But the process will get underway once he's here in Manhattan, and that can happen as soon as Thursday, Jake.

TAPPER: And, Stacy, your take on the extradition. Does this new -- do these new charges, first murder and terrorism, does that change any of this?

STACY SCHNEIDER, CRIMINAL DEFENSE TRIAL ATTORNEY: It really doesn't. What's going to happen when he appears in Pennsylvania if he goes forward and waives on his or consents to extradition, I should say, then New York law enforcement will already likely be in the courtroom in Pennsylvania. He'll be processed out of the Pennsylvania system. He'll still have a hold from the pending charges in Pennsylvania, which will wait out indefinitely while New York addresses its case, and they'll transport him right back to New York and get him into an arraignment in front of the New York Supreme Court -- Supreme Court criminal, which is for felony indictments.

The indictment is already handed up by the grand jury. They'll present him with that indictment and his attorney and undoubtedly, hell enter a not guilty plea. But there's something I really want to point out here, which is highly unusual.

And it's my opinion that the Manhattan district attorneys office has a bit overreached in this indictment. They were originally going to go forward with a murder two charge against Luigi Mangione, which is just having the defendant having the intent to cause death of another human being and the defendant being the cause of that death. They've now gone forward and enlisted these terrorism component or this terrorism component to a murder one indictment, which means they presented evidence in front of the grand jury, which is a group of 24 people from the community, without a judge in place, just a district attorney and a group of 24 grand jurors who hear evidence.

It is undoubted or I believe that he -- the D.A., presented that alleged manifesto to try to get this terrorism charge added on as murder one, but they're going to have a harder time proving that in court for one reason, and I'll make it fast. This victim was shot in the back of the head, not in the front of the head, on a quiet sidewalk early in the morning, in the dark. And it doesn't appear from a defense attorney's perspective that this was intended to be a terroristic type of murder.

TAPPER: Hmm. So -- so one other thing I want to ask is just a I want you to take a listen. For moments ago, the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg -- Alvin Bragg. Let's roll that tape.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALVIN BRAGG, MANHATTAN DISTRICT ATTORNEY: One count of murder in the first degree is a killing in furtherance of terrorism. Two counts of murder in the second degree. One charging the killing was done as an act of terrorism, and the second, pertaining to the fact that the killing was intentional.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: So, Stacey, you think a defense attorney would disagree with that and with what Shimon laid out that the prosecution will explain is that because he was targeted, Mr. Thompson, for being a CEO of a health insurance company and this -- this does appear to be politically motivated in a sense.

But you disagree with those charges. Do you think a defense attorney would -- would take issue?

SCHNEIDER: I think his defense attorney is going to definitely take issue at trial. They may even move to dismiss the top count of murder one. And that would be Karen Agnifilo, because arguing this was a terroristic act when he was on a quiet street in the dark, shooting a victim in the back of the head, and then intending to influence the whole world about the insurance industry was an unintended consequence of this murder. No one expected the social media outpouring, the disturbing social media outpouring from this act, and to have the district attorney and law enforcement from New York mention that the public -- there was a social media outcry in relation to a terroristic act is putting the cart before the horse.

[16:10:07]

I mean, the murder happened first. The outcry was second and totally unpredictable. So I think this might be a case of overreaching on a murder one. I could see why they have enough evidence, or they believe a law enforcement that they have enough evidence for murder two. But this is going to be a very interesting turn.

TAPPER: And I -- John Miller, I want to play for you. Listen to the NYPD commissioner, Jessica Tisch, just moments ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JESSICA TISCH, NYPD COMMISSIONER: "The New York Post" reported that some extreme activists were circulating a deck of cards with other most wanted CEOs to be targeted for assassination. These are the threats of a lawless, violent mob who would trade in their own vigilantism for the rule of law.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: John Miller, what are you hearing from your NYPD sources about this? Are they going after the people who made these cards? Do they think these are serious threats? MILLER: Well, they do think that they are serious threats. And were

dealing across a number of domains here. One is the psychological effect. And after effect that we see in this compare something like this, which is a relatively unique murder of the CEO of an industry because he was the CEO of the biggest company in that industry, in this case, health care.

In school shootings, we see what they call the contagion effect, which is one of these things happens. It gets a great deal of attention. And the next person who was already thinking of something like that, then may accelerate their plans.

The idea that this has become a social media phenom, the idea that somebody has printed cards, the idea that just outside a high level meeting of CEOs of a number of companies at a hotel last week wanted posters of CEOs were posted on lampposts and scaffolding around the block, showing their faces with their salaries underneath. Brian Thompson was among them, with an X across his face.

The poster said: Brian Thompson's claim was denied, his claim to live. Whose claim will be denied next?

This is the propaganda of terrorism and this is in part why the Manhattan district attorney charges the case this way. Now we know what they know, which is he had allegedly a manifesto on his person, referring to these parasites in the plural, not the singular. What we don't know was, did Luigi Mangione have plans to kill more? But what commissioner Tisch is trying to do here is sound a clarion call, an alarm saying the NYPD and law enforcement in general will not tolerate this. Going from propaganda to action, and that they will track down whoever responsible in any case.

TAPPER: All right. John Miller, Stacy Schneider, Shimon Prokupecz, thanks to all of you.

The other big story today, new details just in on that Madison, Wisconsin school shooting and the 15 year old shooter. Police are scouring her -- that's right -- her online post. The shooter was a girl. Could they provide any clues on why she killed a classmate and a teacher and shot up others with a school and a community and a nation still in shock, I'm going to talk with a pastor and father of four children who attend that school, the Abundant Life Christian School.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: In our national lead now, authorities in Madison, Wisconsin, say that identifying a motive in yesterday's deadly school shooting is top priority. As of now, they say, the motive appears to be a combination of factors, but law enforcement officials declined to provide more details at this hour.

Investigators are also working to figure out how the shooter, identified as a 15 year old student, got the gun used to kill a teacher and a student and injure six others when traumatized about 400 other students at the school.

CNN's Whitney Wild has the latest on what were learning about the suspect's online activity.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHIEF SHON F. BARNES, MADISON POLICE: We were brought together by a tragedy.

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Madison police Chief Shon Barnes solemnly addressing the school shooting Monday, where a 15-year-old female student opened fire inside Abundant Life Christian School.

Finding a motive remains a top priority for law enforcement and say it appears to be a combination of factors.

BARNES: We are looking into her online activity. We're asking anyone who knew her or who may have insights into her feelings leading up to yesterday to please contact the Madison area crime stoppers.

WILD: Barnes, also addressing reports that the shooter may have left an online manifesto.

BARNES: We have detectives working today to determine where this document originated and who actually shared it online.

WILD: The tragedy unfolded when a teacher, not a second grader, as police originally reported, called 911 at 10:57 a.m.

DISPATCHER: Got a call coming in at Abundant Life Christian Church, 49-01 for engine five and medic five for a shooter.

WILD: Officers arrived within minutes at 11:05. They reported the shooter was down and the gun was recovered.

DISPATCHER: MPD is saying everybody can come in. All EMS can come in. Shooters down.

WILD: Madison police have identified the shooter as 15-year-old Natalie Rupnow, who went by Samantha. They say she opened fire inside a study hall with students from mixed grades using a handgun, killing a teacher, a student and wounding six others before turning the gun on herself.

Law enforcement are working to determine how Rupnow obtained the weapon. Officers searched Rupnow's home Monday afternoon and are looking into online activity. Chief Barnes says her parents are cooperating and they don't expect to charge them at this time.

BARNES: We also want to look at if the parents may have been negligent, and that's a question that we'll have to answer with our district attorneys office.

WILD: Monday's tragedy has traumatized this small religious school and stunned the community just days before Christmas. Some students describing the terror they felt.

Sixth grader Alder Jean-Charles says he was scared after hearing the gunshots.

ADLER JEAN-CHARLES, SIXTH GRADE STUDENT, ABUNDANT LIFE CHRISTIAN SCHOOL: I just waited until the police came and then they escorted us out.

WILD: And a heartbreaking account from the second grader who says she could hear cries from a teacher wounded in the leg.

[16:20:05]

NORA GOTTSCHALK, SECOND GRADE STUDENT, ABUNDANT LIFE CHRISTIAN SCHOOL: And she was screaming like, oh, my leg! Help! Help!

REPORTER: Do you know that teacher well?

GOTTSCHALK: Uh-huh.

REPORTER: Well, what was it like to hear that?

GOTTSCHALK: I was -- I was really scared and I was really sad.

WILD: Worried parents James and Rebecca Smith received a text from their teenage daughter saying she was okay after the shooting. Like many, they are grateful to be reunited with their daughter, but fearful of the lasting anguish of another senseless school shooting.

JAMES SMITH, FATHER OF ABUNDANT LIFE CHRISTIAN SCHOOL STUDENT: You plan for these things and you don't want to have to, but it's the world that we live in.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WILD (on camera): Jake, the police chief, addressed whether or not specific people were targeted, and he said everyone was a target that day.

Jake, as if this community has not been through enough. Sadly, there were swatting incidents at area schools today. A law enforcement saying, though that there were no credible threats.

Back to you.

TAPPER: All right, Whitney Wild, thanks so much.

Let's bring in Kellen Lewis. He's a pastor at Bethany Ministries Center, and he's the father of four students at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin.

Kellen, first of all, I'm so sorry about what your kids and the rest of your family are going through. How -- how are they processing it all? And what happened?

KELLEN LEWIS, FATHER OF FOUR STUDENTS AT ABUNDANT LIFE CHRISTIAN SCHOOL: Yeah, thank you very much.

And fortunately for our family, it wasn't nearly as bad as for the families that were more closely affected. But yeah, having four kids in the building, there's kind of a continuum. My youngest kid is four. My oldest is 12. The older kids understand what happened.

And, you know, I've been a chaplain with a fire department up in northern Wisconsin. And I just talk things through with them. And you want your kids to remember that they had a game plan. The school had prepared them for this sort of a situation.

They worked that plan. They did the right thing. And to reinforce that sense of agency with the kids so that when they remember this, they're going to remember that they made the right choices. And fortunately for them, it worked out.

Unfortunately, not all the families had that same event, that same story. And we're really praying for them that have been really deeply affected by this.

TAPPER: What is your understanding based on what your kids and their friends and other parents have told you? What is your understanding of what happened?

LEWIS: From what I understand, this student was in study hall and started to shoot classmates and teacher and, multiple teachers were shot and, it -- so it's one of those things where it happened very, very quickly.

As soon as the police arrived on the scene, she turned the gun on herself. And so, when a good person with a gun showed up, a bad person with a gun was neutralized. And, so it's something that happened pretty, pretty quickly.

But the school was ready for this. They had prepared for it. They -- for this sort of a situation and, so they responded, you know, almost perfectly to every aspect of this. And, so, yeah, I mean, I could tell you about every one of my kids stories if you wanted, but, you know, all the teachers, all the staff handled this just right. They were prepared, even having doors that automatically lock when they're shot.

So it really confined this to one classroom. All of that is something that were grateful for. That as terrible as this is that it didn't end up becoming a situation that was any worse than it was. It was close to my -- my third grade son in particular. He had water on his shoes from a pipe that burst from being shot. So he was within -- within range of all of this and hearing things in the hallways of people running down the hall screaming, active shooter, lock your doors.

And the principal notified everybody, that this was time to do a lockdown drill, that this was not a test. And fortunately, all the doors pretty much in the classrooms would have been locked. The students knew what to do, and they -- they hid in the corners of their classrooms. My third grade son mentioned that his teacher stood between the door and where the kids were hiding with scissors, ready to do whatever she had to do to defend the kids in that class. So there were a lot of heroes that that did the right thing yesterday.

And I want to just highlight some of them.

TAPPER: Yeah. And yet, I can't help but think that such a horrible image for your -- your third grader to have seen a teacher with a scissors ready to -- I mean, it's heroic, but it's also so sad. Are your children okay? Are they afraid to go back to school?

LEWIS: They're -- they're not afraid to go back to school. They're doing okay. I've, you know, processing it with them and just reminding them of their agency, of doing the right thing.

Sometimes we can highlight the negative things, highlight the chaos, and that that doesn't really do any good.

[16:25:04]

That's the goal of these terrorists. But, everybody else did the right thing in this situation, and they helped each other out. The whole community stepped up. Um, and those are the things I want my kids to remember from this.

TAPPER: I do want to ask you just because were trying to. There's no sense that can come of this madness, but have you -- have you heard anything about any sort of motive?

LEWIS: There's nothing that's confirmed. Like there are documents floating around online of alleged motives. And there are things that kind of tie it together with her T-shirt and a Hitler quote, and the Columbine shooters. It's, you know, a little conspiracy theory sort of stuff, but it all seems consistent from what I can tell.

So, you know, it seems like it's probably an act of terrorism, targeting people because they're Christians as well as being a radical feminist that hates men, and a racist that hates Black people, you know, and that's all based on, you know, this document online. So if that's not true, then we don't know anything.

The police would know better than I would certainly. I know nothing more than any of your researchers just looking at things online. I don't know her personally.

TAPPER: All right. Kellen Lewis, thank you so much. Really appreciate it. And our thoughts and prayers with you and your family, your children and obviously everybody in Madison, Wisconsin, affected by this. Thank you so much.

On Capitol Hill just moments ago, a classified briefing on those mysterious drone sightings over New Jersey. A lawmaker who was in that briefing will join us in moments.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:31:00]

TAPPER: More breaking news now. Members of the House Select Committee on Intelligence just came out of a classified briefing on these mysterious drones that have been spotted over New Jersey and points beyond. The sightings have been going on for more than a month now, pushing lawmakers to press for answers from the Biden administration.

Let's bring in the top Democrat on the House intelligence committee, Congressman Jim Himes of Connecticut.

Congressman, thanks for joining us. So this was a classified briefing. What can you share? And are you satisfied with what you heard?

REP. JIM HIMES (D-CT): Yeah. Thanks, Jake.

It was a pretty comprehensive briefing, and I'm not sure that other than the details, much was classified. I'll tell you this. It was comprehensive in the sense that we had 28 representatives of the Department of Homeland Security, of the FBI, CIA, you name it were there, and we established a few things.

Number one, the chairman and I asked probably in 12 different ways, is any of this federal government operations? You know, there's a lot of rumor out there that this is radiation sniffing or chemical sniffing. This is not a federal government operation. We're very, very confident of that.

And then we asked a lot of questions, poking at the conclusions that the -- that the federal government has offered up, and their -- maybe conclusions is strong a word. But again, there remains no evidence that there is any unlawful, unindicted, unidentified drone activity out there. And most of the people who have expertise in sort of thinking about and watching and mitigating the threats from drones are saying inasmuch as they've been able to actually look at specific events, most of them turn out to be regular aircraft.

Yes, some drones, recreational commercial -- people are seeing stars. You know, there's -- there's, again, no indication that there's any illegal activity or any particular danger or malign activity that is that is concerning that group of people.

TAPPER: Yeah. But doesn't saying no indication or no evidence of malign activity isn't that kind of word play? I mean, there's no evidence or -- there's no evidence that there isn't nefarious activity as well, right?

HIMES: Well, there is no evidence that there is nefarious activity. And, Jake, we're talking about some of the busiest and most crowded skies on the planet, right. You've got, you know, Newark Airport, LaGuardia Airport, JFK Airport, White Plains Airport, Teterboro Airport, you've got 800,000 registered drones in this country and many million more unidentified drones.

So what I think they're never going to be able to say is that, yes, we looked at all 10,000 objects in the air over New Jersey over the last week, and we checked each and every one out, and not a single one of them is associated with any sort of nefarious activity. That's just not going to happen. But, you know, just to maybe more directly answer your question, you

know, our intelligence community is pretty good. So, you know, if the Chinese were undertaking a massive survey of the state of New Jersey, for whatever reason, they would want to do that, you know, there's a good chance that we would pick up some sign of that. And again, there is absolutely no sign of nefarious activity right here.

TAPPER: So today, the Biden administration issued a joint statement from the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, the Federal Aviation Administration and the Pentagon, and together they say, quote, we have not identified anything anomalous. And that was echoed by Admiral John Kirby today at the White House.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KIRBY, WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL SECURITY COMMUNICATIONS ADVISER: We have gone through 5,000 some odd sightings. We have added detection capabilities to the region. We've even sent up visual observers and everything we're seeing to date, our assessment tells us that these are commercial drones, hobbyist drones or law enforcement drones all operating legally and lawfully.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: So, it's not just folks in the public questioning what they're seeing. I mean, we've also heard questions from people at military bases, from people at airports. Is there no good reason for them to question what they're seeing?

HIMES: Well, again, there's no question that people are seeing things. Like I said before, this is probably the most crowded airspace on the planet, right? So, of course, people are saying things. And by the way, they're seeing new things too, right? Ten years ago, there really weren't drones.

Ten years ago, there were no Starlink satellites. I don't know about you, but it's only recently that I've been looking up in the sky and seeing -- seeing a series of dots moving in parallel, right? So there's a lot of new stuff up there, in addition to just playing a lot of stuff up there.

[16:35:04]

The question that government has to worry about, though, is -- is any of this stuff dangerous? Meaning it's the Chinese or the Iranians, meaning that it's -- you know, some criminal attempt to inflict harm on the people in New Jersey. And that's where there just is no evidence of anything going on.

Now, I don't -- therefore, want to tell you that this is not an issue, right? I mean, we have had any number of cases around the country and around the world of our adversaries using drone technology to try to surveil our sensitive military installations. There was an arrest out in California just recently of an alleged attempt to surveil the Vandenberg Space Force Base out there.

So there are very real dangers associated with drone use. If nothing else, you got something that is a little bit heavy circling over your head, but there's no indication that this is anywhere down the path of some of the more outlandish concerns that you've seen bubbling up around -- around these sightings in New Jersey.

TAPPER: All right. Democratic Congressman Jim Himes, top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee -- thanks so much.

A brazen assassination today in Moscow, a high ranking Russian general killed in an explosion. Ukraine is claiming responsibility. We'll go there, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:40:34]

TAPPER: In our world lead, you're looking now at a street in Moscow, Russia, where a bomb strapped to an electric scooter detonated early this morning and killed a Russian general and his assistant, according to the government of Russia.

General Igor Kirillov is the highest ranking general assassinated since the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine years ago. Just yesterday, Ukraine accused General Kirillov of using chemical weapons.

CNN's Fred Pleitgen was one of the first journalists on the scene.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): One of Russia's top generals and an aide just seconds before the fatal blast. We're not showing the moment of the explosion in this video obtained by CNN.

Russian investigators say the bomb, with about 300 grams of TNT was hidden in an electric scooter parked just outside the entrance of that building. As the general and an aide walked out, it blew up, killing them both.

Russian investigators say the device was detonated remotely. The blast so powerful it shattered windows several floors up in buildings across the street.

At first, we thought that cement might have been unloaded or something similar. This resident says, but the blast was so loud it did not seem like construction work. It was very scary.

Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov was the head of Russia's nuclear, chemical and biological defense forces. Often accusing Kyiv of planning to use chemicals on the battlefield, the Ukrainians, for their part, accused Kirillov of overseeing the use of chemical substances against their forces and have claimed responsibility for assassinating him, calling the general, quote, an absolutely legitimate target and saying such an inglorious end awaits all those who kill Ukrainians.

The general is not the first, but the highest ranking Russian military official the Ukrainians claim to have assassinated.

Moscow furious, launching both a terrorism and a criminal investigation.

Investigative actions and operational search activities are being carried out, aimed at establishing all the circumstances of the crime committed, the spokesperson said.

Asymmetric warfare like this brazen drone attack inside Russia two days ago is how the Ukrainian forces are trying to level the battlefield as Vladimir Putin's army has been making significant gains on nearly all front lines.

But the lieutenant general's assassination comes just hours after Putin met with his top military brass, ripping into the Biden administration for its support of Ukraine.

In an effort to weaken our country and impose a strategic defeat on us, the United States continues to pump the virtually illegitimate ruling regime in Kyiv, full of weapons and money, sends mercenaries and military advisers and thereby encourages further escalation of the conflict, Putin said.

And Russian politicians have vowed revenge for the general's killing, while acknowledging his death is a major loss.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PLEITGEN: And, Jake, the Russians increasingly directing their anger at the U.S. and its allies, a senior Russian politician coming out and claiming that the Ukrainians who were behind this were allegedly taking their orders from what he calls their Western masters.

A senior Russian senator also coming out and saying he believes that all of this shows Ukraine's desperation and that it could hurt the prospects of any sort of direct talks between Washington and Moscow once the Trump administration takes office -- Jake.

TAPPER: All right. CNN's Fred Pleitgen in Moscow, thank you so much.

President-elect Donald Trump is suing a newspaper over the major change in a presidential poll right before the election. Does he have any case at all?

My next guest has argued other First Amendment cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. We'll talk to him about Donald Trump's crusade against the news media, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:48:49]

TAPPER: In our politics lead, President-elect Trump is making good on one of his more chilling promises going after journalists not on camera in court.

At his news conference yesterday, Trump railed about a poll that came out days before the election and had Vice President Kamala Harris decidedly ahead in Iowa, a state that Trump clearly ultimately won.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: That was "The Des Moines Register", and it was their parent, and in my opinion, it was fraud. And it was election interference.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: And today, Trump actually sued the pollster Ann Selzer and the newspaper and its parent company. Fraud is not something about which you have an opinion. There needs to be evidence of fraud. And as of now, I know of no evidence of any fraud or wrongdoing on the part of Selzer or "The Des Moines Register", both of whom stand by the poll.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANN SELZER, POLLSTER: There wasn't an adjustment to my data when we saw that it was going to be a shocker, that I would have said, okay, let's adjust it. It's not like I know ahead of time what the right numbers are going to be in the future. So you kind of take the data designed to reveal to me our best shot at what the future is going to look like.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Now, her poll was wrong. It was far off. But Trump sued against the paper is just the latest move by the president-elect to take his complaints about the news media to court.

We turn now to Floyd Abrams, who has argued numerous high profile First Amendment cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Floyd, what's your response to Trump bringing this lawsuit against "The Des Moines Register" for a bad poll? An inaccurate poll, but one that he is alleging was -- was fraudulent and constituted election interference.

FLOYD ABRAMS, CONSTITUTIONAL AND FIRST AMENDMENT ATTORNEY: I've never heard of a case like this. I mean, this is really a strange claim. Trump had been favored to win in this state, this very respected pollster from years back came out with a poll saying he was really in trouble and was in fact behind. And he wound up by winning by 12 percentage points.

What's the problem? I mean, it's really, really striking. And on the face of it, it just has the smell of being just furious at her for just saying at some point you could lose this election, but that just doesn't seem to be any legal basis for it. And that just a strange quality, except that he wants to punish her because she never should have said he could lose. TAPPER: And this is, we should note, just only one of many lawsuits

that he's filed or pledged to file. Trump is also suing CBS and "60 Minutes", saying that he doesn't like the editing that they did of an interview with Vice President Kamala Harris. He refused to sit down for an interview with "60 Minutes". He's saying that their editing was misleading, making her answers sound better than they were.

Is there any legal basis for a lawsuit?

ABRAMS: There sure doesn't seem to be. I mean, certainly he's never provided the public with information which might lead you to say, boy, you know that CBS case, they're really in trouble. There just doesn't seem to be any reason, any basis for it other than -- than his anger and his -- his sense of frustration that he can't really control what they say.

TAPPER: Now, this weekend, we should note ABC News and its parent company, Disney, agreed to pay a future Trump library or a foundation $15 million, as well as $1 million in legal fees to settle one of Trump's suits, a defamation suit against George Stephanopoulos. What was your response to that, and what's your take on the settling of the case by Disney?

ABRAMS: That at least you know, is a case one can speaking as a libel lawyer, you know, make sense of a jury had come back in a case against Trump, which alleged him of egregious sexual misconduct. And it wound up saying, yes, he did engage in sexual abuse, but it did not say. In fact, it said it was not anything other than that. It didn't use any worse word than that.

So, he's -- he was upset. Let's assume, you know, that's genuine, but he brings a lawsuit. There -- there are certainly plausible defenses to the lawsuit, but maybe not. We'll see.

Or we would have seen $15 million is a lot of money and a libel case. There's just no doubt that from Trump's perspective, this was a very successful effort on his part.

You know, there are answers, factual answers. One could give. And that would have been given by ABC if it had tried to defend the broadcast. But where we stand is he sued. They caved and $15 million is enormous recognition, for better or worse that that they made a mistake that they think or they were prepared to act as if it was a terrible mistake.

TAPPER: Yeah. Floyd Abrams, thank you so much. Really appreciate your time and expertise today. Appreciate it.

[16:55:01]

Just moments ago, new charges against the suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO. First degree murder, and also second degree murder as an act of terrorism. House prosecutors are laying out their case and how it may impact a hearing set for Thursday. That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.

And we're going to start this hour with breaking news. Luigi Mangione has now been charged with murder in the death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. First degree murder. Prosecutors announced an 11-count indictment this afternoon that includes one count of murder in the first degree, as well as two counts of second degree murder, including one as a crime of terrorism.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg called the shooting a, quote, "Frightening, well-planned, targeted murder that was intended to cause shock and attention and intimidation," unquote.