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Suspected Killer of Health Care CEO Brian Thompson Fighting Extradition to New York; Large Fires Devastating Parts of Southern California Including Malibu; Hegseth Holds More Meetings as Momentum Builds for Confirmation; Family of Missing US Reporter in Syria Hopeful to See Son After 12 Years. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired December 11, 2024 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

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CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: When you look at these ceilings and these chandeliers, the marble, the detail, this is the kind of opulence, this lavish lifestyle that engendered so much resentment from so many Syrians who have been struggling to survive for decades while the Assad family lived like this.

In a warehouse, rows and rows of luxury cars, Ferraris, Lamborghinis, and classic Cadillacs. This was a dynasty that will be remembered not only for its brutality but its deep corruption.

Below the palace in the heart of Damascus, crowds gathered in Umayyad Square. Under Assad's rule, the Syrian people were forced to worship him. Now they finally have the freedom to celebrate his demise.

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SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: New details this morning on the suspected CEO killer. He's fighting extradition to New York. Also, he had an apparent to-do list. And the notes he allegedly wrote about possibly using a bomb to target his victim.

We are also expecting brand new figures on inflation this morning. It's a report the Federal Reserve will be watching before the decision on interest rates next week.

And newly released video shows the moment a garbage truck exploded in a Chicago suburb. What the heck happened there?

I'm Sara Sidner with Kate Bolduan and John Berman. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, this morning, police say they are building their case against the suspected CEO killer Luigi Mangione as the accused murderer is behind bars in Pennsylvania fighting extradition. Overnight, Mangione was denied bail after he had a dramatic outburst heading into court. Police say they have a notebook that listed out plans or ideas before the killing, including writings about possibly using a bomb but not wanting to kill innocents. All this as alarm builds over what "Axios" calls an American obsession with the suspected assassins, quote, "tantalizing digital footprint."

All right, with us now, CNN chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst John Miller and CNN legal analyst and criminal defense attorney Joey Jackson. John, let's start with this notebook that police now have. What's in it?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: So when police arrested him, of course, the focus became this three-page document that we've loosely referred to as a manifesto. In that he talks about, this wasn't so difficult. It just required some social engineering and some CAD, which is "computer aided design," which is an engineer's term. So it fits.

But beyond those three pages, there's the notebook they appear to come out of, which is a spiral notebook, the way a student would work from. And in the notebook, and he mentions this in the note, kind of obliquely saying in the notebook, you'll see some to-do lists and so on. My technology is mostly locked down. So he's telling them, when you get into my computers or phones, you're not going to find much, almost pointing them to the note itself and the notebook.

But in the notebook there are the to-do lists that talk about things he's going to need or things he's going to need to obtain, or things he's going to need to do. For instance, when he arrives in New York, he doesn't go to the hostel to check in to get rid of his backpack. He goes straight to the Hilton Hotel to begin reconnaissance, which is one of the things on his list.

But what have we been asking about for the last week? Which is how did he know to position himself between the Hilton Hotel and the Marriott Luxe across the street and slightly down the block where the CEO was actually staying? How did he know where to wait for Mr. Thompson? And he gives us a clue by saying some of this was social engineering, meaning assuming somebody's identity in a pretext phone call or an email. So he hints at gathering intelligence.

But he also muses about modes of attack, and he talks about Ted Kaczynski, who he has some kind of Unabomber worship bleeding through in his other online posts. He says to use a bomb as the mode of attack could catch innocent people in the fray. But he talks about shooting as the preferred mode at the conference, which he has foreknowledge of because it was on the Internet, wrapping up with kind of the judgment, what would be better, he writes, than to kill the CEO at his own bean- counters conference?

BERMAN: Joey, counselor, defense attorney, that's a lot of evidence right there. How do you build a defense?

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JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: So that will be very difficult to do, particularly when you have a manifesto and other things. We see the makings of that now, right. We see the fight to extradition. Even that, John, is going to be hard. What is extradition? We know that the charging jurisdiction, New York, wants him here. You can argue, hey, listen, I'm going to fight extradition. Some people waive it. Many do. But there are limited defenses even to that. All you have to establish is, is the actual document facially sufficient? That is, does it say and does it depict everything accurately, right? Number one. Number two, does it elicit probable cause. And number three, is that you.

So I think that might be a ploy, right, potentially to stay out of Rikers Island, the jail system in New York, for a little while. But as to the specific evidence, if you look at everything they have, right, starting with, of course, surveillance, you have that. Very few things, right, that you actually see exactly what happens. We see that.

But then more importantly, John, when you get down into it, you look at what the authorities got when they caught him in Pennsylvania. Why do you have a fake I.D.? Why do you have this gun on you? Certainly, they charge him there. And then, of course, there's evidence here with respect to the backpack, right. And with respect to and even going back to listing out specifically what you did and why you did it.

Last point, John, and that's this. Not only the evidence, but I think in this case, and you hear this a lot, in prosecutions, you don't have to establish a motive. You don't you just have to demonstrate that you were the guy that did it. And all indications, notwithstanding his attorney saying I haven't seen any evidence, are suggesting that that's the case. Here, I think motive is going to play big because it demonstrates why he did what he did, hence why he's such a folk hero on social media.

BERMAN: What does he get out of fighting extradition? And I ask this because this is a guy allegedly who was trying to send messages. He's writing things on shell casings. He's yelling when he's going into the courtroom. Does fighting extradition provide more moments where he can make a public spectacle?

JACKSON: So there's a few things that could occur, right? Number one, certainly you lawyer up in New York, you get your lawyers together, you get your facts together, you get your legal defenses together, right, to the extent that every bit of evidence will certainly be challenged.

Number two, where are you going to be housed? Just think about it, right. Would you not want to be housed potentially in Pennsylvania more than you might want to be at Rikers Island? And so there's that issue.

And more importantly, look, the reality is, is that every defendant has a right to fight extradition if you want to. That's why the judge has given him two weeks to do that. Good luck, because as I noted, there are very limited defenses. At the end of the day, the only question is when he'll be in New York, not whether he'll be in New York.

BERMAN: Any impact on the investigation itself?

MILLER: Not really. I mean, they'll continue, and they need to, to continue to gather evidence, try to get into the computer, get into the phones. The fact that he's sitting in a jail cell in Pennsylvania versus New York City doesn't really affect it. One small way, which is, you know, they need that gun to do the ballistics.

BERMAN: Let's talk about the gun here, because this was a gun that, at least in part, we are told was 3-D printed. This raises is just a whole slew of questions, not just about this case, but many others.

MILLER: Well, I mean, the gun being 3-D printed was probably in, well, a combination of two things. And I'm reaching here, but as an engineer with a master's degree in engineering, the idea of creating your own gun without having to go to a gun store, fill out those forms, provide identification, something that was untraceable on the idea if I get away from -- if I get away with this, the gun is not going to take them back there. But there's also the possibility that the gun itself is part of the overengineering, attaching that suppressor to a homemade gun probably altered the balance, which caused it to jam three times.

BERMAN: Any concern in the law enforcement community? I mean, look, there are so many people out there writing things that are deeply troubling, praising this guy. Is there concern that there will be people out there who see this successful assassination using a 3-D printed gun who might think this is a way to get around some gun laws?

MILLER: There is. And when I was the deputy commissioner for intelligence and counterterrorism in the NYPD under Inspector Courtney Nilan, we formed a ghost gun squad. That was all they did. And we had a number of techniques, including working with postal authorities and subpoenaing mail order companies to trace where these parts were being sent on the idea of that's where the parts are going, that's where the guns are being built. There were people who built them for themselves, but there were people who became cottage manufacturers for gangs and criminal groups.

JACKSON: But also, John, in terms of the evidentiary value, right, the ghost gun, what are you trying to do? Avoid detection, right? And so it's a powerful piece of evidence to demonstrate you had it with you. You knew what you were doing. Potentially you were using it to get away from this particular crime. So prosecutors are going to use that and a whole lot of other information to establish it was you.

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BERMAN: Joey Jackson, John Miller, thank you both very much.

Kate?

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: So a nightmare scenario is unfolding along southern California's coastline right now. A wildfire that erupted Monday night is tearing through Malibu at a frightening speed. More than 3,000 acres have burned so far, forcing evacuation, mandatory evacuations, warnings for 18,000 residences -- residents. Big stretches of the Pacific Coast Highway was shut down, and many homes burned to the ground. Watch this.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All these mountains were covered in flames, just covered, like you took a crayon and just colored everything.

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BOLDUAN: CNN's Nick Watt in Malibu for us, watching it all, talking to people, seeing what they are up against. What are you seeing and what are you hearing, Nick?

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this morning, Kate, what we are seeing is fire on the hillside in the back of Malibu. You can see those flames there. There are 1,500 firefighters on the ground. There are also fixed wing and helicopters dropping water to try to contain these flames. The flames there coming kind of close to a little seafood restaurant down here on the Pacific Coast Highway. What firefighters are dealing with is low humidity, high winds, and very, very dry chaparral.

As you mentioned, mandatory evacuations, we've also seen some people trying to do what they can to save their homes, spraying down the roofs because the winds, embers on those winds, those are the biggest danger. They can get sucked into a vent. They can land and they can set your house on fire.

Now, Fred Roberts has lived here most of his life. Take a listen to what he had to say about the conditions around here.

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FRED ROBERTS, MALIBU RESIDENT: This is a notorious area. The winds coming straight down Malibu Canyon like a blowtorch. And so they're in harm's way every time there's a fire over there. After I've seen this one and that one there burnt, I know this is the real deal. And it did hit here hard.

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WATT: And, you know, people here know to fear these flames. We were out here just a few years ago for the Woolsey fire, which burned nearly 100,000 acres, destroyed 1,600 structures. So people are well aware of the danger. Nobody here takes it lightly at all.

Now, one of the fire officials called this fire stubborn. Obviously, they are dealing with high terrain. They are dealing with winds whistling through those canyons. Gusts today expected to maybe get up to that 50, 60 mile an hour level that was causing so many problems over the past couple of days. At its peak, this fire was burning five football fields a minute.

The mayor of Malibu has called this a traumatic time. The city hall was actually even threatened by flames, so they had to move their command center to Calabasas, just over the other side of the hill.

Now Pepperdine University canceled some final exams. All the schools closed. Pacific Coast Highway behind me is also closed. Now, you mentioned evacuations. Dick Van Dike was among those who was

evacuated along with his wife and his cat. He is turning 99 years old on Friday. By then, we hope conditions will have gotten a little bit better, -- higher humidity, lower winds, maybe even a few spots of rain. Kate?

BOLDUAN: I mean, let's hope for that. But the winds right now not helping at all. Nick, thank you so much for being there, right there for us. Really appreciate it.

Sara?

SIDNER: All right, Ahead, Donald trump's embattled pick to lead the Pentagon is back on Capitol Hill today as pressure mounts on key senators to support him. Is Pete Hegseth inching closer to confirmation?

And bird flu spreading in America's dairy cattle, prompting the Department of Agriculture to soon start testing raw milk. Doctor Sanjay Gupta is here to answer your questions about the safety of the nation's milk supply.

And an update on what happened after this dramatic moment in a Nevada court.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whoa, whoa, whoa, hey!

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SIDNER: New details on that decades long sentence for that man there who jumped across a desk to attack a Nevada judge. Those stories ahead.

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SIDNER: Today, President-elect Donald Trump's pick for Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth, is back on Capitol Hill. He's set to meet with Senator Susan Collins of Maine, who has raised concerns about his alleged sexual misconduct.

CNN's Lauren Fox has the latest story from Capitol Hill.

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LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yet another critical day ahead for Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump's pick to lead the Pentagon as he is set to meet today with Republican Senator Susan Collins.

Throughout this week, Hegseth has emphasized his meetings with Republican women in the United States Senate. He met on Monday with Senator Joni Ernst, a Republican from Iowa and someone who will be key because of her position on the Armed Services Committee. On Tuesday, he met with Senator Lisa Murkowski, a Republican from Alaska, who had this to say about their meeting.

SEN. LISA MURKOWSKI (R-AK): I had a good exchange with Mr. Hegseth.

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Are you ready to support him?

MURKOWSKI: I had a good exchange, and we'll see what the process fares.

REPORTER: What more do you need to learn?

MURKOWSKI: Well, he's got probably at least half the Senate that he's going to visit with. He's got a process that is going to involve full vetting through the administration and then ultimately a committee.

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FOX: Now Hegseth finds himself in a far better place today than he was in even 10 days ago. Senator Lindsey Graham, making that point earlier to our colleague, Manu Raju, and I also spoke with Senator John Cornyn, who met yesterday with Pete Hegseth and said that he does plan to support him, barring any new or unforeseen information coming out about his nomination.

Now, Cornyn did make clear that this was going to be a bruising confirmation process, that this was going to be difficult for Hegseth and his family. But he said in his meeting with Hegseth, he emphasized that point. And he said he does believe that Hegseth is ready for the weeks and months ahead.

On Capitol Hill, for CNN, I'm Lauren Fox.

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JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Our thanks to Lauren for that.

New hope for Austin Tice, the American journalist detained in Syria for the past 12 years. What the US is saying this morning about efforts to bring him home.

And, "A belligerent critic" with "lack of credentials." This morning, dozens of Nobel prize winners are coming forward in an effort to block RFK, Jr.

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BERMAN: All right, this morning renewed hope to get journalist Austin Tice home. He's been held in Syria since 2012. But with the fall of the Assad regime, the family, Austin Tice's family sees new opportunity.

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DEBRA TICE, MOTHER OF AUSTIN TICE, JOURNALIST HELD IN SYRIA SINCE 2012: It comes from intel that's been verified by many different agencies in the United States. They just don't want to share it. They don't want it to be public. But it's verified, it's real and, as recent as August of this year.

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BERMAN: All right, CNN's Jennifer Hansler is at the State Department with the latest here.

Good morning, Jennifer.

JENNIFER HANSLER, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT REPORTER: Hi, John. How are you?

BERMAN: So what's the latest?

HANSLER: It is the fact that they are rushing on to try to bring home Austin as soon as they can. They are taking advantage of this window of opportunity to try to bring him home. They say the collapse of the Assad regime is a limited opportunity here. They are working on the ground with folks on the ground to try to scour prisons that they knew about, that they're uncovering now, to try to bring him home.

Now, they don't have any new information yet, but they are conveying to every group that they can get ahold of, including HTS, who is in charge de facto of Syria right now, to convey the message that finding Austin, getting information about him is a top priority. Take a listen to what State Department spokesperson Matt Miller said yesterday.

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MATTHEW MILLER, US STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESPERSON: We do continue to believe that he is alive, and we continue to make clear in all of our conversations, either with entities on the ground in Syria or with entities that may be in communication with those on the ground in Syria, that we have no higher priority than the safe return of Austin Tice to his family.

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HANSLER: Now, John, one former official told me that this is a fleeting opportunity because there could be looting, there could be destruction of evidence that is very important to try to track down leads here. So, they are going to be working with whatever parties they can who are on the ground to scour any sort of lead, to try to track him down. They say this could be an opportunity to find his location, find his condition, because there's been very, very little information about him since his disappearance back in 2012.

And as you heard from the family, there is hope that he will be found alive, that he will be brought home. But what we are hearing from officials is that time is of the essence here, John.

BERMAN: Yes, the family is so hopeful. I talked to the sister and brother just the other day. Remarkably, they were in Washington with a meeting with the Biden administration they had planned months ago when the Assad regime fell.

So, they were seizing this moment of being present, when it was all happening, to try to push the government even more.

Jennifer Hansler at the State Department, thank you very much -- Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: The killing of the UnitedHealthcare CEO and the reaction to it has exposed deep frustration and anger with the healthcare industry. We have new reporting on what is behind it.

And we are also moments away from a new report on inflation, what it will mean for the prices that you are paying at the grocery store.

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