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Republicans Say They Have New Plan To Avoid Shutdown; CEO Murder Suspect Makes First NY Court Appearance; DOD: 2,000 Troops In Syria, More Than Double Previously Disclosed; First Severe U.S. Case Of Bird Flu Confirmed In Louisiana. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired December 19, 2024 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:01]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Fortunately, officials say that the last sighting of them was back in 2019 or rather, 2021.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: That's right. Now, Washington residents played a big part in the wipeout. They set up traps around their homes. Scientists also managed to tie a tiny radio onto one of the hornets and track it back to its hive.

It looked like aliens, right?

SANCHEZ: That's a really intense suit to wear, but these are amazing murder hornets after all.

KEILAR: They are intense murder hornets.

Bye, guys.

THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER starts right now.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.

And we begin with breaking news in our politics lead. We're less than 48 hours from a federal government shutdown here in the United States. We are just now learning the lawmakers are emerging from House Speaker Mike Johnsons office, saying that there is an agreement between Republicans on a government funding plan that could avert that shutdown.

A quick recap on how we landed in this shutdown danger zone. It all started yesterday with a social media blitz. We're talking dozens of posts on Twitter from Donald Trump's self-described first buddy, billionaire Elon Musk, who began lobbying for killing the bipartisan spending bill compromise. Before Musk did this, a bipartisan bill appeared to be a done deal.

Now, keep in mind, House Republicans can only afford to lose three votes to pass a bill along party lines in the House. If everyone is there to vote, with likely more than that number of Republicans, more than three refusing to vote for any spending bill. So House Speaker Mike Johnson was forced to negotiate with Democrats to come up with something that would pass. And they did cut a deal. But then Musk and President-elect Trump decided to weigh in against

that deal yesterday. And that tanked Republican support and left House Speaker Mike Johnson in the lurch.

Ever since then, Johnson has been scrambling to try to put together a new deal before the funding clock runs out. By the end of the day tomorrow, Friday, a reminder of what's at stake if the government, the federal government were to shut down hundreds of thousands of federal workers would be furloughed, hundreds of thousands of essential employees would still have to report to work.

None of them would be paid. Many services would be put on hold or delayed. If there's a shutdown, including environmental and food inspections. National parks would also likely close.

Let's get right to CNN's Manu Raju on Capitol Hill.

Manu, what are you hearing from members of Congress right now? Where does a new deal stand? And would it only be Republicans? And do they have enough Republican votes?

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: All great question, Jake, and still uncertain how this will ultimately play out. In fact, there's been a day of frantic negotiations that have been happening in Speaker Johnsons office. And all throughout trying to really meet Donald Trump's 11th hour demands that could force this deal, a bipartisan deal that had been reached earlier this week to avoid a government shutdown at weeks end. Those 11th hour demands from Trump led to the collapse of that bipartisan proposal. So then it left Republicans scrambling, particularly to meet Donald Trump's pretty significant request that the house and the Senate agree to an effort to try to get rid of or suspend the national debt limit, something that had not been really part of the talks, something that is a very complicated negotiation. He wanted it as part of this effort to avoid a government shutdown that left Congress scrambling to figure out what is next.

And Mike Johnson, we have not heard from yet, has been convening with his key leaders all throughout the day and members who just emerged from that meeting told reporters that they believe they have an agreement among themselves, among Republicans. And part of this deal, we are now learning, Jake, according to multiple sources telling me and the rest of my team here on Capitol Hill that it would include a three-month extension of current government funding that would take it to about March. That was similar to what was in the last plan.

It would also include other measures that were similar to what was in the last plan that led to the -- that included $110 billion in disaster relief money. That is very important for some of those hard hit areas that have been impacted by these huge storms. But perhaps one thing that is very significant here, Jake, they tried to meet Donald Trump's demand about dealing with the national debt limit.

They include a two-year suspension of the national debt limit. Remember, it hits actually in January when they actually would be breached. But the Treasury Department has extraordinary measures to avoid the first ever debt default. That would take it up until the middle of next year.

Donald Trump has said he does not want to deal with that in his term. That's why he's demanding in this 11th hour for Congress to deal with this now. So they are acquiescing to Donald Trump's demand here and including that two year suspension of the debt limit.

Now, Jake, the question is, can they get Republicans on board? There are a lot of Republicans who simply do not ever support any sort of suspension or increase of the national debt limit. Can they actually get them to vote on the House floor? And what will Democrats do?

I am told from sources that they are trying to assess this proposal right now to whether they should give the support to get this over the finish line, because earlier today, Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leader, told me it was, quote, premature to discuss the debt limit at this point. So, a lot of huge questions still, as Congress is staring at this government shutdown by the end of the day tomorrow, Jake.

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TAPPER: And, Manu, President-elect Donald Trump just posted on Truth Social, quote, success in Washington. Speaker Mike Johnson and the House have come to a very good deal for the American people. The newly agreed to American Relief Act of 2024 will keep the government open, fund our great farmers and others, and provide relief for those severely impacted by the devastating hurricanes.

We don't know what's in that bill. What didn't make the cut, as it were. For example, we our understanding was that there was significantly increased funding for research to combat pediatric cancers. We don't know if that's in this new bill or not.

And does Donald Trump saying that, do you think guarantee that every House Republican will vote for it?

RAJU: It does not, Jake. In fact, because of the fact that there's some members who will simply not vote for any continuing resolution to extend government funding for a short period of time, there are some who say that they will never vote for that.

Also, there are some who really will never, ever vote for an increase or a suspension of the national debt limit that would authorize more borrowing here in the United States, some philosophically opposed to that at all. If they say they were, if they would agree to that, they say they would need to be significant spending cuts to offset the increase in borrowing. And that does not appear to be part of this plan.

So that certainly means, Jake, that Democrats will be essential to carry it over the finish line here in the House, and it's possible they could vote as soon as tonight. And then what about the Senate, which is controlled still by Democrats, 51-49 Democratic Senate. And there's a Democrat, of course, in the White House.

So, a lot of questions about how this ultimately will play out, Jake, amid this 11th hour scrambling to meet Donald Trump's demands. TAPPER: All right, Manu, thanks so much. We're going to keep coming

back to you as you get new updates throughout the two hours of the show.

Let's go to some other breaking news in the national lead. Moments ago, CEO murder suspect Luigi Mangione was in federal court. This was just hours after striking scenes of the murder suspect moved to New York from a Pennsylvania jail.

Mangione, surrounded by law enforcement officials, some with bulletproof vests on, carrying drawn guns as they transferred him to federal custody. The suspect now faces new federal charges in the death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

According to an unsealed federal criminal complaint, those federal charges include two counts on stalking, murder through use of a firearm and a firearms offense. That's on top of the 11 state charges against him in New York, which include one count of first degree murder, two counts of second degree murder, one of which is charged as a killing in the act of terrorism. The federal criminal complaint also reveals new details about the notebook, with alleged writings by Mangione that was found with him when police arrested him in Pennsylvania.

John Miller is CNN's chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst, and he's been getting new information on this case, as well as CNN's -- CNN's Shimon Prokupecz.

I want to start, however, with CNN's Kara Scannell, who was in the New York federal courtroom where the suspect made his first appearance.

Kara, tell us what played out in the hearing when is the suspected killer expected back in court.

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So, Jake, this hearing took all of 15 minutes. And those images you saw of Luigi Mangione in that orange jumpsuit while he was changed into street clothes when he entered the courtroom surrounded by U.S. marshals, wearing khakis, a white button down shirt and a navy shirt that went over it. He -- he sat pretty silently during the hearing.

The judge asked him if he understood his rights, if he understood what he was charged with. He said yes both times, pretty briefly, kind of slender in nature. He was not. There were no outbursts like we had seen of him walking into the Pennsylvania court a few days ago.

But his lawyer did raise a few questions, saying that in her 30 years as a prosecutor and a defense lawyer, she had never seen this highly unusual situation where Mangione is facing state charges and then suddenly today, also having federal charges unsealed, his attorney, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, said that she was told to appear in state court today at 2:00 p.m. and then had to reverse and come here instead to represent him for these federal charges.

She also said that she had some questions because the charges she thought were in conflict. The state charges Mangione with murder, with the intent to cause terror, and these federal charges with stalking. So she's trying to raise issues here that they could be conflicting theories of the case and questioning whether and to what extent at all if the state and federal prosecutors were cooperating.

The judge suggested this was not the time to address those issues. The prosecutor also agreed, and so Mangione was detained. He's not expected back in court until mid-January, but an indictment is likely to come before then, and then he will be appear in court and enter a plea on that indictment.

You know, for now, the Mangione will be spending the night at the Metropolitan Detention Center. That is also where Sean "Diddy" Combs is. And Mangione shares an attorney because Karen Friedman Agnifilo husband, Marc Agnifilo, is also working on this case. He was in court today and he's representing Diddy, who has pleaded not guilty to those charges -- Jake.

TAPPER: Shimon, it was stunning to see the large security presence surrounding Mangione when he arrived in New York.

[16:10:03]

I mean, even New York City Mayor Adams was there for some reason.

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, I've never seen something like that, right? I've been covering crime here in New York City for probably over 20 years now.

It was really striking to watch all of this unfold and the way in which it unfolded from an NYPD plane being used to transport a prisoner who was being extradited to two NYPD helicopters, right. They had two NYPD helicopters waiting for him at the airport in Long Island, where the plane landed. And then they transported him to the heliport on Wall Street.

And then we saw that long, long walk of Mangione surrounded by NYPD detectives, FBI agents, and then you saw the officers with the long guns, bulletproof vests, and just that large crowd of law enforcement officials around him greeting him as he is stepping off that helicopter and standing there was the mayor and the police commissioner and the chief of detectives, really unprecedented.

And it just tells you all of the like, hoopla, right? All of the celebrity-ish kind of the way in which this case and what this story has become. And in all of this, right, we can't forget that there was a victim, a victim here who was assassinated on the streets of Manhattan. But now, this case is like taking on this new life and really, you're seeing some of that.

Look, there are certainly security concerns over Mangione, and you can understand some of that. But really, when you look at how all of this unfolded and how everything happened today, this is one for the history books.

And I think the NYPD knows that. And having that shot and having that long walk is something that, you know, is going to be in movies and documentaries for quite some time.

TAPPER: John, what did you make of the amount of security? Did it seem excessive to you?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, I don't think it's excessive in the idea that in most of these cases where you have somebody in custody, sometimes you'll see them put a bulletproof vest on the suspect because they think, you know, he may be attacked by someone who is upset by what he's accused of.

In this case, it's the other way around, the level of security, the fact that emergency service unit officers with long guns, motorcycle outriders to clear the route, multiple people were involved in this move was because they are worried about the incredible amounts of support that Mangione has garnered online as an anti-hero, and that people might try to free him in that his arrival time and route were now pretty well known.

I think beyond that, though, there is the reality, which is this was a case that gripped the city, and I think the NYPD also wanted to demonstrate he's in custody. He's in our custody. He's in the FBI's custody, which is why I believe the mayor was also there to show the public the case is solved and that that they acted directly and quickly.

TAPPER: All right. John Miller, Kara Scannell, Shimon Prokupecz, thanks to all of you. The case and its charges are not common due to the federal charges amount to this defendant being charged twice for the same crime. We're going to talk about double jeopardy next, and we're going to go back to Capitol Hill.

Is there in fact a deal? A House Republican will join me with his reaction. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Back to our breaking news and our politics lead. House Republicans say they now have a new proposal to avoid a shutdown tomorrow. The question, do they have the votes? It is not clear whether it will ultimately pass.

Here's what is in the proposal. According to five sources, all the numbers are approximate. A clean three month extension of funding to keep the federal government open until March.

A two year suspension of the debt limit to January 2027, a farm bill extension and a $110 billion disaster relief package, which includes $10 billion in aid for farmers. Its worth pointing out who got the ball rolling to torpedo the initial bipartisan spending bill. It seemed, at least publicly, to be Elon Musk, with a long stream of posts on his x platform. But some of his reasons for opposing the bill were simply not based in fact.

For example, Mr. Musk posted, this criminal bill must not pass, unquote. Okay. The spending bill is not a crime. But moving on, he said this should not be funded by your tax dollars. Referring to an NFL stadium here in Washington, D.C. but there were no taxpayer funds allocated to build an NFL stadium in Washington, D.C.

Mr. Musk was also wrong that the bill would shield the January 6th committee and wrong about the bill funding bioweapons labs. He put that information out and people believed it, of course.

The panel is here to discuss.

Brian, is anyone telling Elon Musk that he is pushing back against this bill for things that -- for reasons that are not actually in the bill?

BRIAN MCGUIRE, FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF, SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL: You're -- you're telling him right now that what he's saying is inaccurate. I think what Elon Musk's tweet storm tells me is that members are paying very close attention to what he and President Trump and the folks around them think about what they're doing on the hill. I think they probably would have liked for them to tell them what they thought sooner than yesterday afternoon.

Obviously, that creates a little bit of a pileup in Congress, but I think they're getting to the right place here. Members are starting to pay attention and starting to adjust what's in this bill. And I think that's where this is headed. Obviously, it's not going to be easy or straightforward, but, you know, this is having an effect. And so everybody has to adjust their calculus of how to operate in Washington post-Trump's election.

TAPPER: So do you think Democrats should engage in this? I mean, this is just to refresh everybody's memory. The reason this big bill, the reason the spending bill was bigger than conservatives wanted it to be, is because many conservatives were refusing to vote for it. So, Speaker Johnson had to negotiate with Democrats.

I don't know that there are enough Republicans to vote for this compromise that Trump supports and Elon Musk supports. If you were advising Democratic House members, what do you think they should do?

[16:20:01]

ALENCIA JOHNSON, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Listen, I honestly would advise them to dig their heels in and push the Republican Party to actually get a backbone and stand up to these billionaires who clearly don't know exactly how the government works, and figure out how to have a bipartisan bill to move forward.

I mean, I think there was a time in our politics when things like this did come together in a bipartisan way, and we've never seen in our politics that billionaires are the ones deciding what will happen to the average American. And so I think Democrats are actually at an advantage so long as we learn how to message this right, because as they blew up this bill, they being Trump-Vance and Elon Musk, they also figured out a way to try to start blaming Democrats for that.

But it's their own party -- so Democrats, if you're going to dig your heels in, let's figure out how to message this and show that the enemy is this billionaires boys club that Donald Trump has created in his administration and listens to.

TAPPER: I don't know what the number is, but it's -- it's more than three. They can only afford to lose three House Republicans. And its more than three will vote against any spending bill, any of them.

So they come out and Donald Trump applauds it. And even if Elon Musk applauds it, like, can it pass with only Republican votes?

JONAH GOLDBERG, CO-FOUNDER AND EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, THE DISPATCH: Yeah, I mean, this is a return of underpants gnomes politics, right? It's the South Park thing where step one, we'll come up with a new clean bill. Step two, question mark, question mark, question mark. Step three, total victory, right?

I mean, look, I think the setup piece you said that Musk's reasons for being against this bill are wrong. No, his stated reasons.

TAPPER: Stated reasons, right.

GOLDBERG: His actual reasons is he wants to be a chaos agent. This is a very silicon valley way of doing things. He goes in, blows everything up, says you're doing everything wrong and all that. And this is one of the reasons why this now almost two century old myth that we should just run government like a business never really works out because the rules of government and the rules of business are just different.

TAPPER: Yeah.

GOLDBERG: And so, it's a chaos agent kind of move. It is a very strange move to do something, do this kind of power play at the dying moment of Democrats' greatest power. They still control the White House. They still control the Senate.

The idea that you're going to get a better deal from this situation than you would after January is strange to me, and it does not suggest that there's a lot of thought put into this.

TAPPER: So, Congressman Andy Barr, Republican of Kentucky, he told the "Associated Press", quote, my phone was ringing off the hook. The people who elected us are listening to Elon Musk.

Now, Trump also separately told ABC News he gave permission to Musk to trash the spending bill. It does seem as though there is a wag the dog kind of thing going on here, I don't know, did Trump say, Elon, go out and tank this bill or did Elon do it? And then Trump like ran in front of the parade and said, they're following me. I don't know what's going on here exactly.

Andy Barr is giving credit to Elon Musk.

MCGUIRE: Well, I would think that both of them would have been in touch with Speaker Johnson and his team about what was going to be.

TAPPER: Well, that's definitely not happening. MCGUIRE: Look, I've never seen a Democrat oppose raising the debt

limit or passing a CR to keep the government open. So I think the basics of what they're proposing here should be broadly acceptable to Democrats, what they add to it, beyond that, they're definitely going to need Democrat, some Republican votes on this. You know, they can't pass it with Democrats only.

So they're going to have to come up with something. But I think the basic contours here show me that it's headed actually in a decent direction.

TAPPER: So somebody I know and we've covered this issue about the inequity when it comes to funding cancer research for kids, adults, especially seniors, get a lot of money when it comes to that for kids constantly get ignored, the short end of the stick. There was going to be a big increase in this bill, and it looks like that's just going to be cast to the side because there isn't any thought process going on here.

And Speaker Johnson, my understanding, was negotiating in good faith with Democrats. I'm not saying that everything in that bill was wonderful. I certainly don't think that. But this is just kind of like chaotic budgeting now.

GOLDBERG: Yeah, it was a Christmas tree. And, you know, my former colleagues at "National Review" are right to editorialize against the actual substance of the pork in the bill and all that. Not saying that cancer research for kids is pork.

But, you know, the thing that I think is missing in all this is Donald Trump was read in on all this. He has a very close relationship with Mike Johnson. So whether he gave permission to Musk or Musk forced this new reality on Trump, this is not something that, like Trump was surprised by the content, or at least the people around Trump were surprised by this.

No way Mike Johnson sprung this on them at the 11th hour. All the springing is going the other direction.

JOHNSON: Well, I want to go back to what you were saying about the chaos agent, because, Jake, you're bringing up a topic that, quite frankly, should be unanimous, right? And support, right?

But on the other hand, we have, yes, Elon Musk as the chaos agent. So is Donald Trump. That is strategic to distract the American people and cause this confusion and spew these wrong talking points. And that's not allowing for Congress to do what it needs to do when it comes to what the American people need.

[16:25:04]

And that's, I think, a preview into what were going to see for the next four years. And it's actually really disgusting because so many people need so many of these elements that were in that bipartisan bill. TAPPER: Well, whether or not it's disgusting, I think we can all

agree this is probably just a preamble to what were going to see a lot of in the next 2 to 4 years.

Thanks to all. Appreciate it.

A lot has changed since the day began, with a key Trump ally posting on X, quote, shut it down. The House Republican who had that message is going to join us right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Back in our politics lead, House Republicans say they now have a new proposal to avoid a shutdown tomorrow, a government funding package that would be a three month extension of funding, a farm bill extension and a disaster relief package.

[16:30:08]

Right now, Democrats are set to meet to discuss whether they can support the proposal.

Here now is Republican Congressman Tim Burchett from Tennessee. He serves on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee.

Congressman, thanks for joining us.

So earlier this morning you posted on X or Twitter quote, shut it all down. What do you think of this new package that Donald Trump is saying he supports?

REP. TIM BURCHETT (R-TN): Well, I haven't even seen any of the details. Of course, it's going to be another one. They're going to rush us to the floor, which seems to be the only thing partisan about these things, Jake, actually.

A hundred billion in there for disaster relief. We need disaster relief. But we've been up here for two weeks. We should have passed an individual bill.

And where do they come up with the figure $100 billion? To me, that's -- that's problematic in itself. It's a -- they're going to continuation of the farm bill. Our farmers are in trouble. We know that. But again these should be single -- single issue spending bills. They put these things on a CR, which is a continued resolution.

We abdicate our duties. Our only sworn duty up here actually is to pass a budget. And we're not doing that. We're continuing funding levels during COVID, but they tack all those good things on there and people like myself who have a conscience, they have to really pray about these things to figure out what they need to do.

TAPPER: You saw, I'm sure, on Truth Social, President Trump, President-elect Trump was attacking your colleague, Congressman Chip Roy, for, I believe, for opposing the compromise spending bill being -- being proposed. You sound like a no. If the bill would come before you today or

tomorrow, you would vote no. Am I am I hearing you correctly?

BURCHETT: No, your -- I haven't decided. I'm trying to decide in my head currently. Jake, like I said, I really would like to see this bill before I vote on hundreds of billions of dollars of new dollars that we don't have. As you know, every 100 days we add $1 trillion to our debt and nobody currently has a plan to do anything about it.

I honestly would just, you know, everybody makes fun of Tennessee where I come from. I get it. They make fun of my accent and the way I think. But the reality is Tennessee is a balanced budget state. We have zero debt, pretty much incredible bond rating.

And one of the main reasons we have that is because we have single issue spending bills. We come up here in Nashville. We did. I did it for 16 years. We debate the merits of a bill. There's a fiscal note that follows it. You know who proposed the amendments on it.

Up here, it just goes in a we suspend the rules and then magically, there's this bill that appears. I'm frustrated with the system I have been since I've gotten here. Its no surprise to me of what it what it was going to be like. The only surprise I had when I got to D.C. was that I wasn't surprised about any of it.

TAPPER: I don't know who's making fun of you, but I love Tennessee and I love Tennesseans.

BURCHETT: Thank you.

TAPPER: But let me ask you, let me ask you, sir, are you afraid of defying Donald Trump and Elon Musk? Like, would you vote no knowing that you would face potentially their wrath on social media?

BURCHETT: Sure, sure. Well, one thing I do know is, is that we've got a three or four-person lead and a good case of the flu up here, and they're not going to have that lead, Jake. I mean, let's just look at numbers. These things change. You know how this game works. You've been playing it as long as I have. They're going to need me sooner than sooner or later. And I don't see a lot of Democrats cutting any deals with Donald Trump. They're going to need us Republicans to stick together.

So, you know, my biggest thing is my conscience. I'm going to vote my conscience. That's what's got me here. That's why there's a lot of people -- there's not a lot of people with my lack of bank account that are up here right now because I've -- I've voted my conscience and I've done what I thought was right. And so that's -- that's kind of directed me through this thing. And I pray a whole heck of a lot.

TAPPER: How much does it matter to you that President-elect Trump says he supports this deal?

BURCHETT: Well, it matters a lot. You know, he's going to be our future -- he is the leader of our party, and he is incredibly strong in Tennessee. It's an incredibly red state. You don't go anywhere. And, you know, you get it used to be Lincoln Day dinners or Reagan Day dinners. Now they're all MAGA dinners. People still have the MAGA signs up in their in their yards, and everybody's got that red MAGA cap.

So, yeah, it means a whole heck of a lot. And but -- again, I have to vote my conscience. I have to do what I think is right.

TAPPER: So Elon Musk, an incredibly successful businessman when it comes to SpaceX, when it comes to Tesla, the richest man in the world last time that that was measured, he is playing a very big role in lobbying people against the spending bill, the previous spending bill, not the current one. I don't know what his position is on the on the current one.

Do you have any concerns? You're talking about how you don't have a huge bank account. A lot of your constituents, I'm sure, are in the same boat.

Here is the biggest -- the wealthiest man in the world, you know, saying his views when obviously a government shutdown would mean real consequences for people in the military, people who work for the federal government, you know, people who work for the FAA who would have to work but wouldn't be paid. I recognize that that is just one aspect of government funding.

Are you worried at all about this? The richest man on the planet, having this outsized role in whether or not you and your colleagues vote for a government funding bill?

BURCHETT: Well, if I said I didn't think about it, I'd be lying to you, Jake. But the reality is he doesn't have a vote in the second district of Tennessee. But he sure does have a big checkbook and that can play into it.

Look, I've had the dark money run against me. I have had people, the former speaker tried to recruit people, brought people up to Washington to run against me. And I've been down that road.

I'm 60 years old. And if I got to go back home to the farm in Tennessee, I'll be okay doing that. But that's just -- that'd be God's will, really.

But yeah, I mean, of course, you're going to think about that because everybody brings it up every dadgum day. But the reality is they're going to be chairing a committee called the doge committee and or in ad hoc committee, I guess you'd say. And they're going to be talking about, saving money.

And there's nobody with a fiscal record that I have. There's very few that have voted more fiscally conservative than I have and consistently voted against my party, voted against their party, voted against crazy spending bills. I was against that first bill over a week ago because I knew exactly what was going on.

They were loading it up to get people's votes. They weren't talking to the members. And that's exactly what was going to happen. I knew it was going to fail a week ago because I could just see the trend. And I know human nature, and that's our nature up here, is to load it up with garbage to get people to vote for it.

TAPPER: Congressman Tim Burchett, thank you so much. If I do not see you, have a blessed and merry Christmas. And next time anybody makes fun of your accent, please send them in my direction.

BURCHETT: You got it, brother. Thank you so much. I'm the only person -- I'm -- East Tennessee is the only place in America where people don't speak with an accent, actually.

TAPPER: Exactly right. Thank you so much, sir. Good to see you.

BURCHETT: Merry Christmas, brother.

TAPPER: Thank you.

Last hour in federal court, the defense attorney for the suspected CEO killer told a judge, this is a highly unusual situation that she has not seen in her 30 years of practicing law. Not only does her client face a slew of charges from the state of New York, now federal prosecutors have added charges of their own. What makes this case so unique? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:41:57]

TAPPER: We're back with breaking news in our national lead.

Prosecutors say the suspected killer could face the death penalty, the federal death penalty. But they did not say yet whether the federal government will seek it. In this case, the suspected killer, Luigi Mangione, will now be held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, the only federal prison in New York City. It's also the same prison where Sean "Diddy" Combs is being held as he awaits trial.

Lets bring in former assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, Elie Honig, and former FBI deputy director Andy McCabe.

Elie, to you first. Explain why you think prosecutors are saying that the suspected killer could face the death penalty.

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: So under one of the charges that's been lodged federally against Luigi Mangione, the lead penalty, the top maximum penalty is the death penalty.

Now, that said, it's important to understand he's death eligible. So, a few things have to happen first. DOJ first has to decide whether they want to seek the death penalty or not. In these cases, often DOJ says he is eligible for the death penalty, but were not seeking it. That's the result of an internal process. And by the way, the result could be quite different if that decision gets made between now and January 20th, when it's the Biden administration, or after January 20th, when the Trump administration takes over. Even if DOJ decides to proceed and seek the death penalty, then they

have to get a jury after the trial, a jury has to come in and find that he should be sentenced to death as well. So it's a long way from here to a death penalty, but it is in play in the federal charge.

TAPPER: And, Andy, you heard John Miller talk earlier about all the security surrounding the suspect being brought to New York. I mean, it looked like they thought he was a super villain, but John Miller explained it that it was more about making sure that nobody tried to free him. Have you ever seen anything like that before?

ANDY MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: No. I've been involved in many, many renditions of prisoners back to particularly Manhattan, to the southern district or to the eastern district, across the river, and never seen one quite like this. I mean, I certainly would defer to the FBI and the NYPD risk assessment in terms of what they needed to do today.

But, I mean, there are lower profile ways to move a prisoner very carefully and safely and securely. So I think, you know, my -- my sense, Jake, is some of this was about making a statement about power, about you can't run from us. We found you. Now, you're back to face justice.

I just wonder how much of that will ultimately work against him. For someone who's been made such a big deal of on -- in the Internet and is kind of lionized by so many people, I kind of I feel like a little bit of this production today kind of added to that mystique and to the attention around him and maybe a not productive way.

But at the end of the day, he made it to court safely and that's what matters.

TAPPER: Elie, what do you make of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's decision to have the New York state case, quote, proceed in parallel with the federal case against the suspected killer?

HONIG: Well, it seems there's a little bit of tension between the Manhattan D.A.'s office who charged this case first, and the feds, the Southern District of New York, my former office across the street, which sort of swooped in today and took him first.

[16:45:04]

That happens sometimes I think what we should look for from here on out is, are they able, between the state prosecutors and the federal prosecutors, to work this out in a way that doesn't undermine the cases?

They will both proceed in their respective courts on sort of parallel tracks. Now, the big question, though, is going to be who gets to trial first? A lot of times, the feds and the state prosecutors and I've been on both sides of this equation. Work it out. They say, okay, you go first, we'll go first, whatever.

But if they can't work it out, it's just going to be a race to trial. Who gets there first? If that's the case, I guess I'd favor the feds knowing how things work in federal court. But -- but it seems like there's some tension here between the U.S. attorneys office and the DA.

TAPPER: Andy, what's your reaction to that? Is there tension?

MCCABE: It certainly seems that way. They're kind of, you know, last minute surprise nature of the federal indictment and the transportation seems to have caught some people off guard. That's never a good starting point for cooperation in a very complicated matter like this. Whoever makes it to court first is a very important determination, because that first trial gets the first cut at any witnesses that you need in the case. And as Elie knows, you don't want to be second with the witness, right? The second trial, those witnesses all have extensive statements on the record that they can be cross-examined against.

So that could -- that can put the second trial at a little bit of a disadvantage. So hopefully they'll work this out and move together, you know, hand in hand. But we'll just have to wait and see how that goes.

TAPPER: So on Tuesday, before the federal charges were unsealed, Mangione's defense attorney Karen Friedman Agnifilo, who we know she's been a commentator here at CNN before she put out a statement addressing the possibility of federal charges against her client. And part of the statement reads, quote, the federal governments reported decision to pile on top of an already overcharged first degree murder and state terror case is highly unusual and raises serious constitutional and statutory double jeopardy concerns, unquote.

Elie, do you think there are double jeopardy concerns?

HONIG: Well, I agree with half of Karen's statements. I do not think there are going to be constitutional double jeopardy concerns. I know that because there was a 2019 Supreme Court decision in a very comparable scenario that said, it's okay for the feds and the state prosecutors to charge the same crime essentially under those two different set of laws. It's something called separate sovereigns. It's not going to be double jeopardy.

But, Karen is right, it is very rare, not impossible, but very rare to see the feds come along in the case that the state has already charged and say, we're going to add on our own charges. In fact, the Justice Department's own internal manual says we should generally not be doing that. If the guy's already been charged in the state, that's usually good enough, and we try to avoid adding our own charges.

So, that will give the defense something I guess to raise to the judge. It's not going to be a legal defense, but she's right that this is unusual.

TAPPER: Alright. Elie Honig and Andy McCabe, thanks to both of you for your expertise.

Coming up next cases of bird flu, raising of concern in Louisiana case described as severe. In California, health officials issued a health emergency. What is really going on here? Just how concerned should you be? We're going to lay that out next.

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[16:52:27]

TAPPER: In our world lead, we're now learning that the United States military has maintained a larger presence in Syria, more than double the 900 troops that the Pentagon had previously disclosed.

Here's what the Pentagon press secretary just revealed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAJ. GEN. PATRICK RYDER, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: I learned today that, in fact, there are approximately 2,000 U.S. troops in Syria. As I understand it, and as it was explained to me, these additional forces are considered temporary rotational forces that deploy to meet shifting mission requirements.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: This is the latest revelation in the wake of rebel groups overthrowing the government of Syrian dictator Bashar al Assad, along with the increased military showing the Biden administration is naming former ambassador and Syria envoy Daniel Rubenstein to lead the U.S. efforts on Syria in their final weeks in office, a U.S. official tells CNN. Rubenstein is expected to join a delegation of senior U.S. officials visiting Damascus and Syria in the coming days -- the first high level American visit since the fall of Assad.

In our health lead, the first severe case of bird flu has been confirmed in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The patient in Louisiana is currently hospitalized in critical condition.

CNN's Meg Tirrell joins us now.

Meg, do we know how this patient contracted bird flu?

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, we heard from the CDC that the person contracted bird flu after exposure from sick and dead birds in a backyard flock.

And actually, that's another first. It's the first time we've heard of a case being acquired that way in the United States. So this patient right now, as you said, is in the hospital. They're in critical condition with severe respiratory illness. We know a few facts about the patient. They're over the age of 65. They do have underlying conditions that make them more vulnerable to complications from flu. We also heard that they have a strain of this bird flu that has been seen more in wild birds versus the strain that's been seen more in dairy cattle.

So there is a warning from the CDC, although they say there's no person to person spread right now that folks with backyard flocks should be very careful around how they handle wildlife -- Jake.

TAPPER: And tell us about the state of emergency in California for the bird flu.

TIRRELL: Yeah. So California is really doing this because of concern over bird flu in dairy cattle there. They've seen this in herds really across central California. But the governor said in the emergency declaration yesterday that they now have seen that move to southern California dairy herds as well. And so they're trying to free up resources and flexibility to be able to tackle this.

[16:55:01]

Of course, there have been 61 human cases of bird flu across the United States this year. More than half of those have been in California.

So while this is really focused predominantly on controlling this in cows, there is a concern, of course, as more and more people get exposed to this, it could mutate and become transmissible between people, which so far we haven't seen. And that's why the CDC says the risk right now is low.

TAPPER: All right. Meg Tirrell, thanks so much. House Democrats met just moments ago after President-elect Trump announced a pending deal to avoid a government shutdown.

We just heard from Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Democrat of New York, who did not sound so sure that there is an actual agreement that can pass. We're going to go to the hill with his reaction next.

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TAPPER: And welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.

We start this hour with breaking news, a new deal possibly among some Republicans, and a ticking clock on Capitol Hill where the United States could be just minutes away from a vote to avoid a government shutdown.

Lawmakers are facing a very real deadline. The federal government --