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Honda and Nissan Announce Plans to Merge; Trump Defends Influence of Elon Musk; House Releases Scathing Gaetz Ethics Report; Luigi Mangione Pleads Not Guilty. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired December 23, 2024 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:38]

ERICA HILL, CNN HOST: The man accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson back in court to enter a plea of not guilty to state murder and terror charges. What comes next in this case?

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN HOST: Plus, the final draft of the long-awaited House Ethics report on Matt Gaetz finally seeing the light of day. Among the most salacious accusations, that Gaetz paid tens of thousands of dollars to women for sex and drugs. Ahead, how the former congressman is now responding.

We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

HILL: And thanks for joining us on this Monday. I'm Erica Hill, along with Danny Freeman in New York. Brianna and Boris are off this week.

We begin with Luigi Mangione back in court, maintaining his innocence. Today, the man who stands accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in a New York courtroom. During that arraignment, he pleaded not guilty to 11 state charges, including first-degree murder and terrorism-related charges.

Now, if convicted on that top charge, the 26-year-old could be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He is, of course, also facing charges in Pennsylvania and at the federal level. Mangione's attorney today arguing in court officials are using her client as -- quote -- "political fodder."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAREN FRIEDMAN AGNIFILO, ATTORNEY FOR LUIGI MANGIONE: He's being prejudiced by some statements that are being made by government officials. Like every other defendant, he's entitled to a presumption of innocence. But, unfortunately, the way this has been handled so far, he -- his rights are being violated.

And, as you know, Your Honor, there's a wealth of case law guaranteeing his right to a fair trial. But none of the safeguards have been put in place yet here. In fact, it's just the opposite of what's been happening. He's a young man, and he is being treated like a human ping-pong ball between two warring jurisdictions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Attorney Karen Friedman Agnifilo specifically calling out officials for that huge show of force last week when he was extradited from Pennsylvania upon his arrival in New York, calling it -- quote -- "the biggest staged perp walk" she has ever seen.

CNN's Kara Scannell joining me now with more.

So, Kara, what more did we learn? What did we hear at this arraignment earlier today?

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So the arraignment itself was only about 20 minutes.

And, as you saw, Luigi Mangione was escorted into the courthouse with plainclothes officers on both sides of him, their arms interlocked with him as he was shackled at his wrists and at his ankles. Now, inside the courtroom, there were four rows that were filled for the public, about roughly 30 members of the public, all relatively young, and the majority of them women, which is just interesting.

No one said anything, of course, because the court officers keep a pretty stronghold on the decorum in the courtroom, especially in such a serious charge case. Outside the courtroom, there were also some protesters with "Free Luigi" signs, which is a little unusual outside of New York. You don't often see that sort of people showing up outside of a courthouse.

But, inside, his lawyers were making the point that she was concerned that he would not get a fair trial because of that very public perp walk where Mangione arrived in New York by helicopter and was walked down that pier, where he was then taken into federal custody to face the federal charges that were announced on Thursday.

He, of course, today in court, arraigned, pleading not guilty to those state charges. The prosecutor said that the volume in this case is voluminous. He said that they have thousands of hours of video tracking Mangione's movements that they will be in the process of turning over to him.

Mangione's lawyers making an issue of some of the statements the public officials have made, including New York City Mayor Eric Adams, highlighting that and noting that Adams himself is facing federal charges of alleged bribery, so saying that he should know something about the presumption of innocence.

Now, as leaving court, it was really unclear where Mangione was going next, because the prosecutors said that they believe they have primary jurisdiction over him because federal prosecutors said the state case could go first. The judge saying, well, you need to work that out with the federal government, because he's currently in federal custody at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York.

So the question is, does he get transferred to the city to face the state charges? That would mean he would get transferred to the jail at Rikers Island, another location that is also known for its notoriously bad setup -- Erica.

[13:05:04]

HILL: Yes, absolutely. Kara, I appreciate it. Thank you.

Also, with us this hour, Misty Marris, who's a trial and defense attorney.

Misty, good to have you here.

I want to pick up actually where Kara just left off, so this question of jurisdiction, the judge saying, hey, you need to figure this out. How quickly do you think we could have an answer there?

MISTY MARRIS, DEFENSE AND TRIAL ATTORNEY: I think we could really see a push-pull, Erica, because it doesn't seem like the type of case that the local prosecutors in Manhattan are going to want to give up on if the federal government behind the scenes says, we want our case to have priority.

So, oftentimes, it would be an agreement between the two offices. Now, New York would have the argument that their charges were actually filed first, and, therefore, this case is already off to the races, a federal grand -- or excuse me -- a state grand jury has indicted them, whereas the federal case began by federal complaints, that there had yet to be a formal indictment.

But that's something to be worked out. And we can't ignore the elephant in the room, that the Department of Justice about to have a dramatic change come January. So, how collegial those conversations are about which jurisdiction will actually proceed first could largely depend on who's at the helm in the attorney general position and the position of the Department of Justice.

HILL: Wait. So, to that point then, is this something that you don't think will be resolved in the next -- in the coming days, even weeks?

MARRIS: Well, it's funny enough, because this case, we have heard so much about it, we talk about it every day, and there's a lot of information out there, but from the perspective of where the cases stand, they're actually at their infancy.

They're in the very, very beginning of any criminal case. So it certainly could be something where the decision is not made for a couple of weeks as these cases begin to play out. That being said, I think you're going to see a strong push from Alvin Bragg, especially given what we saw, the entourage, the escort of Luigi Mangione to the courthouse with New York City Police Department and the mayor there, it's likely they're going to want to hang onto it and they will be advocating for that behind the scenes.

HILL: Well, to that point, that, as Kara mentioned, did come up today in court, Karen Friedman Agnifilo bringing it up specifically.

And she said -- and I'm quoting her here -- "The staged perp walks to the media were unrelated" -- she talked about how this was utterly political, and then went on to quote why this was unconstitutional, saying, because it was a staged perp walk to the media that was unrelated to a legitimate law enforcement objective, she finds that that was unconstitutional.

What do you think she is laying the groundwork for there, if anything?

MARRIS: Yes, absolutely.

And, by the way, it was very, very unusual, especially when he's being escorted to a federal courthouse. Usually, we see black cars unmarked driving down the FDR kind of flying under the radar in order to make that type of transfer.

But, Erica, you raise an excellent point. She's laying the groundwork for various due process challenges. Remember, everything that happens in the course of this case could result in an appellate issue. So could it potentially be a change of venue request, that she's saying the mayor himself is standing in this entourage front and center, making statements which would tend to undercut a defendant's constitutional right to be innocent before -- until proven guilty?

So, all of that is going to be the basis for potential challenges, whether it be to evidence, whether it be to venue or whether it be appellate issues that could occur down the road. It's all in preservation of the record moving forward.

HILL: All right, Misty, really appreciate it, as always. And stay with us. I know you're going to be back for a little bit more -- Danny.

FREEMAN: Erica, thank you.

We're following breaking news out of D.C., the House Ethics Committee releasing its scathing report on former Congressman Matt Gaetz. It says that it found evidence that Gaetz paid tens of thousands of dollars to women for sex or drugs on at least 20 occasions, including paying a 17-year-old girl for sex in 2017.

Now, Gaetz abruptly resigned from Congress last month after president- elect Trump picked him for attorney general, but then Gaetz withdrew from consideration a week later after it became clear he would not have the votes to be confirmed. Gaetz has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, though.

CNN crime and justice corresponding Katelyn Polantz has been following this all day.

Katelyn, what more do we know about the Ethics Committee's findings?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Well, Danny, the big picture here is that the Ethics Committee, through interviewing witnesses, testimony, as well as evidence, have found that Matt Gaetz was providing money to women in exchange for sex and/or drugs many, many times.

And then, specifically, on top of that, one of those women was at the time a 17-year-old girl headed into her senior year of high school. This is the big picture of the committee's findings.

Here's what they wrote: "Many of the women interviewed by the committee were clear that there was a general expectation of sex." One woman who was paid more than $5,000 from Representative Gaetz between 2018 and 2019 told the committee that -- quote -- "Ninety-nine percent of the time that they were hanging out, there was sex involved."

[13:10:00]

So that's a big takeaway here. And then the committee digs in further to look at this moment in July of 2017, a party where Matt Gaetz had sex with a girl who was 17 twice.

They wrote in their report on that finding: "The committee received testimony that victim A and Representative Gaetz had sex twice during the party, including at least once in the presence of other party attendees. Victim A recalled receiving $400 in cash from Representative Gaetz that evening, which she understood to be payment for sex. At the time, she had just completed her junior year of high school."

Now, all of this is findings that the House Ethics Committee says were in violation of what their ethics are in the House. Gaetz is no longer a member of Congress, but the House Ethics Committee chose to make this report public this morning.

I should note, though, Gaetz was investigated for the possible violation of federal laws, including federal sex trafficking, and was not charged with any crimes there. The House says that they believe there is a possibility he violated Florida law in having sex with that minor girl at the time, but he has not been charged with any crime.

And he has said multiple times to the committee and also publicly on social media that the allegations against him are false -- Danny.

FREEMAN: All right, Katelyn Polantz, thank you very much.

Misty Marris is back with us, along with former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.

Thank you both for breaking this all down for us.

Andrew, let's start with you.

Just can I get your top-line reaction to the contents of this pretty intense report?

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Yes, Danny, it's incredibly damning.

The report is graphic and really holds nothing back in its recitation of the many ways in which they believe the former congressman violated the standards of the House Ethics Committee and potentially violated federal and state law.

It's also clear to me that there is a -- there's kind of a note of bitterness here on the part of the committee, because they clearly feel like they were not treated appropriately by Mr. Gaetz or by the Department of Justice, for that matter. They spent some time in the introduction of the report relating how Matt Gaetz essentially refused to cooperate with any aspect of the investigation.

He refused to be interviewed. They served a subpoena on him. He didn't respond to the subpoena. They gave him some questions and he simply gave some very simple answers publicly, rather than treating this thing with the seriousness with which the committee clearly gave it.

They also had some trouble getting any sort of substantive responses from the Department of Justice about their investigation of the former congressman. So, releasing the report, it seems to me, was based partially on wanting to get -- set the record straight with the work that they had done, despite some significant investigative hurdles.

FREEMAN: Well, it's interesting, because, in contrast to perhaps the committee's difficulty in terms of getting responses or answers from Mr. Gaetz himself, Misty, we're now hearing a lot from Gaetz, who really has been going on a bit of a tweetstorm this morning since that report was released.

I think we have at least one of the tweets we can pull up in part, where Mr. Gaetz said:" "Giving funds to someone you are dating that they didn't ask for and that isn't charged for sex is now prostitution? There's a reason they did this to me in a Christmas Eve eve report and not in the courtroom of any kind, where I could present evidence and challenge witnesses."

Misty, is this argument going to work here, in your head?

MARRIS: Oh, believe me, if I were his lawyer, I'd be saying get off the computer, shut it, save it, because a lot of what we see in this report has the potential to be referred, whether it be state level prosecutors in Florida.

Remember, this individual is allegedly a minor who is in the Bahamas, and there's the possibility for statutory rape or soliciting prostitution. Those statute of limitations would have tolled. However, it can be extended when you're talking about a minor. So there's a lot of legal minefields here that he's stepping in.

And by putting his position out in this way, by saying now buying a gift for somebody that you're dating is prostitution, you're basically putting something out there that can never be retracted and could ultimately come back at you in the courtroom and speak to some of the elements of those potential prosecutions or civil actions, whatever it might be.

But, certainly, putting this position out there, to the extent it gets into the court of law, there's an opportunity to do it, but providing these types of factual statements that would ultimately make it into court, from his perspective, not a great idea at this juncture, especially given the results of this report.

FREEMAN: I just want to read a little bit more from the report just because, listen, we have known a lot of this. A lot of this has been reported out before. We have heard this, I should rather say, but the language in the report here seems striking.

The report says that: "Based on the above, the committee concluded that there was substantial evidence that Representative Gaetz violated House rules, state and federal laws, and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use, acceptance of impermissible gifts, the provision of special favors and privileges, and obstruction of Congress."

[13:15:18]

And yet, as Katelyn noted, the DOJ ultimately did not decide to bring a case against Gaetz back a few years ago, which he has trumpeted over and over again.

Andy, to Misty's point, do you see any way that prosecutors, whether federal or state, bring this up again?

MCCABE: I don't think there's any room for federal prosecutors to bring it back again, having already issued essentially a declination after a, what, two-year investigation.

There's great questions to be asked of DOJ, though, in terms of why? What were the circumstances surrounding their decision to walk away from what the committee describes as substantial evidence? They may have had good reasons to assess that a prosecution would not have been successful.

They -- having to deal with witnesses like Joel Greenberg and others who have really terrible records for credibility, that sort of thing. But nevertheless, they should have to provide, I think, some answers to congressional overseers.

As for the state level, there is nothing to prevent state prosecutors from going down this road. Now, would they have to eventually deal with the fact that the feds took a look at it and said no? Probably. But, nevertheless, I think Misty's absolutely right.

Like, anything that Gaetz says publicly about this that could possibly be cast as an admission is wildly against his interests and a really bad idea.

FREEMAN: Yes, and I think we will -- it's yet to be seen if we're going to hear more from Mr. Gaetz in the coming hours, if not days.

Andrew McCabe, Misty Marris, thank you both so much for your analysis. Really appreciate it.

MARRIS: Thank you.

FREEMAN: All right, still ahead: President-elect Donald Trump gives new insight into his second-term agenda, while also pushing back against Democratic claims that Elon Musk is actually the one in charge. Plus: a major merger. Honda and Nissan officially begin talks to

create one of the world's biggest automakers. What this could mean for you the next time you're looking to buy a car.

And they starred in one of the biggest hits of the year, but now actress Blake Lively has filed a complaint against her "It Ends With Us" co-star and director, Justin Baldoni -- coming up, the accusations that truly are shocking Hollywood.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:21:23]

HILL: We are now just 28 days away from president-elect Donald Trump's inauguration, and he's floating some pretty big ideas for his second presidency, including reclaiming control of the Panama Canal.

He's also reviving his idea of claiming Greenland. Democrats, meantime, continue to question Elon Musk's growing influence on the Trump administration, Trump pushing back on those attacks.

CNN's Steve Contorno joining us live from Florida.

So there's a lot happening here. The reviving of the idea of controlling Greenland, in addition to these statements about the Panama Canal, first of all, where did those come from?

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: That's a great question, Erica.

And I have asked that question of the Trump transition team. I asked, for example, on Panama, what would that look like? How would the U.S. get involved? Would it require the military? Is this just a trade negotiation tactic? Where did this idea come from?

And I was basically just pointed back to Trump's remarks in Arizona on Sunday, and without any sort of further guidance of what this idea is or where it came from. Talking to some people close to the Trump transition team, they said, look, Trump has been very interested in making trade conditions much more favorable for the U.S.

We saw that with his threats to put a tariff on Mexico and Canada. And this is in line with those. But the idea itself has certainly come out of left field, even for some individuals close to the transition team.

And it was not the only idea that Trump suggested will be coming out in his early term. He said that he opened the door to potentially allowing TikTok to continue to operate in the United States. He suggested that he would sit down early in his presidency with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss ending the war in Ukraine, though he did not provide details on how he would do that.

And he also pushed back, as you said, against this new Democratic talking point that Elon Musk, his co-conspirator in helping throw a wrench in the funding plans last week, is somehow more powerful than even he is. Take a listen to what he had to say on Sunday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (R) AND CURRENT U.S. PRESIDENT-ELECT: They're on a new kick. Russia, Russia, Russia, Ukraine, Ukraine, Ukraine, all the different hoaxes. And the new one is President Trump has ceded the presidency to Elon Musk.

No, no. That's not happening. No, he's not going to be president. That, I can tell you.

And I'm safe. You know why? He can't be. He wasn't born in this country.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CONTORNO: Now, one thing Trump did not bring up at all at this Sunday event was the continuing resolution vote to fund the government, the fact that he did not get what he wanted in that deal, which was an extension of the debt limit beyond 2025, when he takes office.

However, many of the people who spoke at this conference, several of them close allies with Donald Trump, they reiterated his threat that Republicans that stand in the way of Donald Trump and don't go along with him could face primary challenges in the near future -- Erica.

HILL: Steve Contorno, I appreciate it. Thank you -- Danny.

FREEMAN: New today, a huge announcement that could potentially create the world's third largest automaker, Honda and Nissan formally agreeing to hold talks about merging the two brands with expectations of creating a new mega company in 2026.

CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich is tracking all of this.

Vanessa, what's driving this potential deal for both companies?

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS REPORTER: Yes, well, Danny, if you can't beat them, join them.

[13:25:00]

So you have these rival automakers, these Japanese automakers, that are saying they're going to team up and potentially merge to create the third largest automaker in the entire world, only to be bested by Toyota and Volkswagen.

But if this deal goes through, the companies will be worth about $50 billion, and they will jump ahead of Stellantis and GM in the rankings.

Now, why this merger? Well, the two companies need to remain competitive, and they believe that, by joining forces, they will be more competitive in the market. Also, Mitsubishi is in this deal because they have an alliance with Honda. But it's interesting to note that Nissan in the two parties is on

shaky financial footing. Many experts believe that they could go bankrupt by 2026. So this merger is actually really good for Nissan. Also, though, Danny, Nissan has a lot more electric vehicle infrastructure, something that Honda is very interested in.

So the joining of these two companies, if it goes through, will start in 2026. And, for the average consumer, listen, there might be more cars on the market to choose from, especially those electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles, Danny, which are super popular here in the United States.

FREEMAN: It's a fascinating story, and I'm super curious to see how this develops.

Vanessa, while I have you, I just want to pick your brain on a separate issue. The National Bureau of Economic Research, they put out a report about inflation, saying it was the cause, not just the symptom, of the U.S.' labor market.

Can you tell us a little bit more about what they found?

YURKEVICH: Yes, it's the great reshuffling. Initially, when people were looking at what was going on, they thought, wow, a red-hot market, higher wages was leading to higher prices inflation, but this report actually found the opposite, that inflation drove the red-hot job market, because prices were so high and people were feeling really nervous about it.

So they were looking for new jobs or they were renegotiating at their current jobs. And you can see at the end of that line chart right there around 2021, 2022, you just saw inflation skyrocketing at the same time you saw so many jobs that were available, a lot of job vacancies, while at the same time the unemployment rate remained very low.

And that gave the appearance of a really tight labor market. And, of course, though, Danny, hindsight is 20/20. At the time, economists didn't think that was the case. But now we know. And that actually may help inform future policy at the Federal Reserve. And economists may think differently about now what the job market actually looks like with this information that people were just really stressed out about the higher prices and were trying to get better jobs, making more money.

And that's ultimately why you had such a red-hot, tight labor market around 2021 and 2022, Danny.

FREEMAN: Well, and, again, just amazing that we're still learning the impacts of the inflation over the past several years.

YURKEVICH: Yes.

FREEMAN: Vanessa Yurkevich, thank you so much for your time. Really appreciate it. Still ahead: Justin Baldoni, the star and director of the hit film

"It Ends With Buts," is dropped by a top talent agency. This comes after explosive allegations made by his co-star, Blake Lively. She's accusing him of sexual harassment and trashing her reputation.

We have new reaction to these bombshell claims coming up next.

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