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Trump, Hegseth Defend Second Strike On Alleged Drug Boat; Witkoff, Kushner Meet With Putin In Talks To End War On Ukraine; U.S.- Russia Meeting Underway Inside The Kremlin; Luigi Mangione Fights To Block Evidence In CEO Murder Case; National Guard Shooting Suspect Pleads Not Guilty To Murder 3-3:30p ET

Aired December 02, 2025 - 15:00   ET

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

JOHN SANDWEG, FORMER ICE ACTING DIRECTOR UNDER PRESIDENT OBAMA: I think this provides them some justification for it, even though there's not an actual nexus in terms of policy.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Yes, very interesting. John Sandweg, thank you so much for your analysis. We really, really appreciate it.

And a new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: President Trump says he will soon begin striking targets, not just potentially inside Venezuela, but anywhere manufacturing drugs meant for the United States. An escalation of his administration's offensive against alleged drug traffickers. We're following the latest there.

Plus, newly released body cam footage showing the moment that police capture Luigi Mangione, the man accused of killing the UnitedHealthcare CEO. We have the latest from the second day of testimony in his evidentiary hearing.

And if you don't have Real ID, you'll soon have to pay a fee to be able to board a flight. We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming your way right here on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

Breaking news to CNN. As the Trump administration defends a controversial military attack in the Caribbean a short time ago, President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth addressed the decision they say was made by a Navy admiral to strike an alleged drug boat for a second time, killing survivors from the first wave of attack. Here was President Trump just moments ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I still haven't gotten a lot of information because I rely on Pete. But to me, it was an attack. It wasn't one strike, two strikes, three strikes. Somebody asked me a question about the second strike. I didn't know about the second strike. I didn't know anything about people. I wasn't involved in it. I knew they took out a boat.

But I will say this, they had a strike. I hear the gentleman that was in charge of that is extraordinary, just extraordinary person. Pete speak about him. But Pete was satisfied.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Hegseth went on to say that he never personally saw any survivors. We'll get to that in just a moment. But first, the President also addressed whether he'll expand his attacks on alleged drug traffickers to include targets on land.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We're going to start doing those strikes on land, too. You know, the land is much easier. It's much easier. And we know the routes they take. We know everything about them. We know where they live. We know where the bad ones live. And we're going to start that very soon, too.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Let's go to the White House with CNN's Kaitlan Collins.

Kaitlan, really a remarkable moment there in that cabinet meeting.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR, THE SOURCE: Yes, and we actually heard new information, Boris, that we had not heard yet from the Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth or President Trump. President Trump saying he didn't know about that second strike. Earlier, we had heard that from the President on Air Force One. And obviously, it's the second strike, Boris, that has generated so much of the controversy here in Washington.

And it's why Republicans on Capitol Hill are demanding answers. Because we know that initial strike killed nine people who were on board. But there were 11 people total. And so, there were two survivors clinging to the wreckage of that first strike when the second strike occurred. That is why lawmakers have been, some Democrats accusing this administration of committing more crimes, if that's what happened, and others asking for at least further answers on this.

And Secretary Hegseth was asked about a comment that he made after that strike initially happened, where he said that he had watched the operation play out live from the Pentagon. And he was asked today if he had seen the survivors personally on the footage that he was watching, on the feed that he was watching. And Hegseth said that he had actually left the room by the time the second strike had happened. This is what else he told reporters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: I watched that first strike live. As you can imagine, in the Department of War, we got a lot of things to do. So, I didn't stick around for the hour and two hours, whatever, where all the sensitive site exploitation digitally occurs. So, I moved on to my next meeting. I did not personally see survivors, but I stand -- because the thing was on fire. It was exploded in fire was smoke. You can't see anything. You got digital pictures. This is called the fog of war. This is what you and the press don't understand. You sit in your air-conditioned offices, or up on Capitol Hill, and you nitpick, and you plant fake stories in the Washington Post about killing everybody, phrases on anonymous sources not based in anything, not based in any truth at all. And then you want to throw out really irresponsible terms about American heroes, about the judgment that they made.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: So, he's criticizing the press there, but it was a notable answer when he said that he was not in the room when that second strike actually occurred. He did defend the person, he said, who made that decision. That is Admiral Frank Bradley, the person who was named multiple times at the press briefing yesterday by the Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, when asked who actually made this call. It was Secretary Hegseth who gave the order overall when it came to these strikes, but it was Admiral Frank Bradley, they said, that made the decision on that second strike.

And so, both President Trump and Secretary Hegseth were saying they did not know about the second strike as it was playing out. Obviously, that is something that happened in the aftermath.

[15:05:06]

And when he was asked by a reporter a follow-up about the time that it elapsed between that first strike and the second strike, was it an hour or -- or what he alluded to there, he basically just referred back to that answer, Boris, and -- and left it at that. But it is notable to hear him say, he wasn't in the room when that second strike actually happened.

SANCHEZ: Yes. Kaitlan Collins, live for us at the White House, thank you so much. Brianna?

KEILAR: We're also watching in Moscow, where right now President Vladimir Putin is hosting U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the President's son-in-law. Critical talks have been going on for more than three hours as they're negotiating a potential pathway to peace in Ukraine.

Let's go right to CNN's Matthew Chance, he's live for us in Moscow.

Matthew, any indication from the Kremlin as far as how they think these negotiations are going?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, not so far, unfortunately. We're in a bit of an information, sort of, vacuum holding pattern at the moment. I've just this second been texting the Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, to try and get an update on, you know, if the negotiations, if the talks were coming to an end soon, if he could characterize the sort of mood in the room or anything like that. And there's just been no response.

He did say earlier that there would be no time limit on these talks. They started about three and a quarter hours ago. And so, it's -- they've been going on for some time. They're obviously quite in-depth and intensive.

And I was told earlier as well by the -- the Kremlin that there'll be a briefing afterwards by one of the officials, the Russian officials, that's inside, you know, the -- the room at the table, Yuri Ushakov, who's the presidential aide on foreign affairs, sitting, if you see those pictures of -- of the table, sitting at Vladimir Putin's right hand.

The big challenge for Steve Witkoff, President Trump's special envoy, and for Jared Kushner, President Trump's son-in-law, who's also in these -- in these meetings, will be to try and sort of gauge whether the Kremlin is open to the kinds of compromises, the kind of solutions that have been hammered out between U.S. and Ukrainian officials over the course of the past several, you know, for the past week or so in Geneva and more recently at the weekend in Florida, where they tried to sort of look for creative solutions to get around some of Ukraine's big red lines, like its desire to join NATO in the future, like the call by Russia for it to give up territory, for Ukraine to give up territory that it has annexed but not yet conquered.

These are huge problems with the US-backed peace plan. There are some solutions that are being discussed that are not agreed on. And now Witkoff and Kushner are presenting those solutions to the Kremlin to see if there's any appetite at all from Vladimir Putin to do a deal. Back to you.

KEILAR: All right, Matthew Chance live for us in Moscow. Thank you.

And let's go now to CNN's Nick Paton Walsh, who is in Kyiv.

Nick, what is the Ukrainian view of -- of this negotiation?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: I think, in short, there's great anxiety as to what exactly it will be that Steve Witkoff has presented to the Kremlin during these extensive talks. Now, clearly, it is the product of hours, if not days, of him, really, for the first time, I think, sitting in detail with the Ukrainian negotiating team in Florida at the weekend, even a second meeting early Monday morning between Witkoff and the top Ukrainian negotiator.

Then, that plan on its way to Moscow, Witkoff speaking on the phone to Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Emmanuel Macron of France, the U.K.'s Keir Starmer, getting European allies briefed as well. And the tone from Zelenskyy, one, I think, that's interestingly tried to emphasize two issues here, the need for dignity in whatever particular proposal is coming forwards, some kind of suggestion that, while they are very much on board and trying to be cooperative, they're not entirely sure exactly how this is going to be phrased, and positioning it, I think, much as an American proposal here, although being no doubt they are fully briefed, possibly not signed up to what Witkoff is presenting there.

And at the same time, too, emphasizing to Ukrainians for the need for security guarantees, so that if there are painful concessions made by Ukraine, that there may be security guarantees from the United States and Europe that mean a third or a fourth invasion, however you want to count it, isn't something they have to face in the months ahead.

That was an impassioned part of Zelenskyy's speech today in Ireland, where he's been, some might say, in a holding pattern in case he has to hop it quickly to the United States to meet President Trump, a short flight time from there. And at the same time, too, we hear less from Zelenskyy the notion of red lines about giving up territory.

He has been indeed, he said, seeing his negotiators spend six and a half hours discussing where the front lines might potentially be drawn if there is some kind of deal. So, it seems like territory is possibly on the cards here, but notably, too, after weeks of leaks, about 28 points, 19 points, different plans, we know very little of the concrete details of what Witkoff is presenting.

[15:10:08]

I think that's designed to not offend the Kremlin by them reading about the plan in the media first and possibly too to ensure that Zelenskyy isn't publicly seem to have signed up to a concession that may later be refused by Putin.

But ultimately, Ukrainians here are seeing Russia progress on the front lines, claim with probably some degree of accuracy their control over the strategic hub of Pokrovsk on the eastern front lines and also recognizing the cold here, the hard winter ahead, the damage done by the nightly barrages here and ultimately, too, Zelenskyy's domestic political weakness owing to a corruption scandal that seems to rumble on.

I think they want a deal. They just urgently don't want a deal that means Russia starts this all over again a few months down the line after getting some land without a fight.

KEILAR: Yes, certainly a concern there. Nick Paton Walsh live for us in Ukraine. Thank you.

Still to come, Luigi Mangione, the man accused of murdering the CEO of UnitedHealthcare is back in court and we're learning some new details about the 911 call that led to his arrest.

Plus, a deep red congressional district that President Trump won by nearly 22 points last year may now be up for grabs. Why Democrats believe they can pull off a major upset in today's special election.

And later, under a new program, travelers without a Real ID will have to pay the TSA a new fee if they want to board a flight. We'll have that and much more coming up on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:15:58]

KEILAR: Happening now, lawyers for accused gunman Luigi Mangione are in court, and they're fighting to get key evidence excluded from his upcoming trial on state murder charges. A police officer from Altoona, Pennsylvania, has been on the stand going over body cam footage that shows the moment officers first approached Mangione at a local McDonald's. He testified that he was concerned when he realized that the person was Mangione, saying, quote, "I knew that there was a safety issue possibly for us."

He also testified that even though Mangione was frisked early in the encounter, he didn't realize Mangione had a knife in his pocket until the suspect told him about 20 minutes later.

Mercedes Colwin is with us now on this. She's a legal analyst and a trial attorney.

Mercedes, how key is Mangione's backpack to the state's case here, and how much of a chance does the defense have at really getting that evidence excluded?

MERCEDES COLWIN, LEGAL ANALYST: Brianna, this is do or die for the defense to get that backpack absolutely out of the courtroom, out of the evidence, and not before the jury. The contents of the backpack are so damning. We're talking about the 3D gun. We're talking about the notes and the notes written by Luigi Mangione in which he states that he is going to target a CEO of a health care -- of a health insurance company at a conference, and he rails about the health insurance industry and how it has to be reworked because it doesn't work for the population, it doesn't work for the country. All of that is so critically important to connect Luigi Mangione to Brian Thompson's murder in the streets of Manhattan.

So, that's why the defense is fighting tooth and nail, and they're really focusing on those two officers that came upon Luigi Mangione in the McDonald's in Pennsylvania, one of which you mentioned, which is very critically important because Detwiler (ph) was the first officer that arrived in the McDonald's. He's the one that first interacted with Luigi Mangione. So, that's why there's such a critical piece in the analysis that the judge has to determine whether or not there was reasonable belief, suspicion, in order to engage with a member of the public that you suspect committed a crime, and which is why we're trying to go into the mind of that police officer, what were his thoughts, what was he thinking, what did he know prior to approaching Luigi Mangione, what questions were asked, what did he ask of him, what was his experience in having that interaction with Luigi Mangione, and going detail by detail from the very first moment that the officer approached Luigi Mangione.

KEILAR: So, as we are hearing this, right, we're learning a lot of new details about the arrest from this body cam video, we're hearing from the first officers to approach him. What has stood out the most to you from what we're hearing?

COLWIN: One of the things that's most troubling, especially as a defense attorney, is the fact that the 911 call really didn't go into any details as to the individual sitting in this restaurant. So, you have a 911 call, one of the customers went up to a manager, one of the managers at McDonald's, terrified, saying, I think this is Luigi Mangione, but all that that manager could see was an individual sitting in the back of the restaurant with a mask on, and all they could be seeing are the eyebrows. He then makes that phone call to 911, and then the police officer

arrive on the scene, prior to even arriving on the scene, they didn't have a determination in their mind as to whether or not this was actually Luigi Mangione, the one suspected of -- of killing Brian Thompson. All they knew is that there was someone -- there was someone who's very afraid, they think it might be this individual, and there's some evidence that came in that was joking, that these officers were joking, hey, let's make a bet, if this is really Luigi Mangione, let's get a hoagie.

And that kind of bantering doesn't bode well for -- for a judge that's making a determination of this magnitude. It should be, we suspect that this is the individual that may have killed Brian Thompson, there is eyewitnesses in the restaurant claiming that this individual is Luigi Mangione, stepping into the restaurant and then having that interaction with Luigi Mangione, not joking around, hey, if I win and this is Luigi Mangione, I'll get you a hoagie. What about that?

[15:20:08]

That is something that, unfortunately, for the prosecution it came out in open court and they will absolutely be taken and -- and really driven home by the defense attorneys that are fighting tooth and nail to get that backpack out of the courtroom and out of the evidence.

KEILAR: Two corrections officers from SCI Huntingdon, where Mangione was initially held, testified about alleged statements that Mangione made to them, including his disclosure he had a 3D gun in his backpack. One officer talked about conversations he had with Mangione while sitting outside his cell about media coverage of the case. Why do these conversations matter?

COLWIN: Well, if you actually have the backpack excluded, then you have the admissions that there's a 3D gun and the fact that Luigi Mangione had some very pent-up anger towards the health insurance industry. So, those types of admissions are key and it doesn't play into the defense -- where -- where the defense is saying, where are the Miranda rights given to Luigi Mangione? You're having conversations with someone that you suspected committed this horrendous crime in New York City, yet you didn't give him his Miranda rights. And he didn't feel that -- that he could leave that interaction, so therefore you should have given him the Miranda rights because he was apprehended.

That is out the window. None of those constitutional rights come into play. All you have are interactions with correction officers without the necessary -- the need for Miranda rights to be given. But this is why Marc Agnifilo came in and was really hammering one of those correction officers. The one who said he heard the admission by Luigi Mangione and said, oh really? He just blurted out that he had this 3D gun. Because Marc Agnifilo wants to create the suspicion in the judge's mind that there's no way that Luigi Mangione would have made those statements except if he were actually asked by the correction officer, which of course will come into play if that is something that the suspicion can be really solidified in closing arguments in this hearing. That was something that the judge will have to consider. KEILAR: Yes, certainly. Mercedes, great to speak with you today.

Mercedes Colwin, really appreciate it.

Still ahead, the man accused of shooting two National Guard members here in Washington D.C., making his first court appearance from his hospital bed. We'll have details on what happened.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:27:03]

SANCHEZ: The Afghan national accused of shooting two National Guard members from West Virginia and killing one of them has pleaded not guilty to murder and assault charges. He entered his plea virtually today from his hospital bed during his first court appearance. We should note he's being held without bond. Remember, 20-year-old U.S. Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom died from her injuries. The other victim, U.S. Air Force Staff Sergeant Andrew Wolfe, remains in serious condition, but is showing positive signs of recovery, according to West Virginia's governor.

We're joined now by CNN Senior Justice Correspondent Evan Perez.

And Evan, there are some new photos of the suspect at the crime scene. What do they show?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, these are still shots from a surveillance camera. This is, of course, near a metro entrance downtown -- in Downtown Washington, D.C. And what you see from some of these images that have been grabbed from that -- from -- from that surveillance video, you see images of the -- the suspect chasing at least one of the members of the National Guard after he has already shot two of them. And another still, you see him leaning over, standing over the two non-responsive members of the National Guard that he had already allegedly shot.

And so, that -- that sort of gives you the picture, the chilling video, really, that shows how all of this went down, how this was essentially an ambush of these National Guard members.

Now, during this court hearing today with a Superior Court magistrate judge, he complained about how he couldn't see anything. But pretty much the judge, as expected, said he was going to be held without bond. Here's the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeanine Pirro, talking a little bit about why this is. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEANINE PIRRO, U.S. ATTORNEY FOR DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: This individual was brought into this country as a result of the largesse of the American people and the American government, and he betrayed us by shooting and killing one individual and right now harming someone, another individual, that we hope will survive.

I think anyone about whom we know nothing and make no mistake, there's no vetting. And the fact that we don't have a rap sheet on this guy, as if he was born in the Bronx or in the District, should tell us that, you know, he is clean. We have no idea who he is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREZ: And, you know, during the hearing today, the magistrate actually mentioned the fact that he allegedly drove 3,000 miles across the country to allegedly carry out these -- these shootings.

SANCHEZ: So, Evan, what happens next? When should we expect him back in court?

PEREZ: We expect that he's going to be in court in January. Again, there could be additional charges that could be brought. And keep in mind, one of the things that we heard from the U.S. attorney there is that the Attorney General is going to make the decision. She's -- she's weighing whether to seek the death penalty and possibly bringing this case over to federal court. And that's in the Superior Court for the District of Columbia.

[15:30:00]

SANCHEZ: Evan Perez, thank you so much for that update.

Ahead, why a special election in a Tennessee conservative stronghold has Republicans on edge and Democrats hoping for a major upset tonight.