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Hawaii Officials Find Crashed Tour Helicopter; Trump Impeachment; Bush Fires Threaten Australia's Koala Population; China's Space Exploration; NASA Unveils Latest Mars Rover; Navy SEALs Paint Disturbing Picture of Eddie Gallagher; Producer of "A Charlie Brown Christmas" Dies; Home away from Home for Military and Veterans' Families; Somalia Car Bomb Attack Leaves at least 61 Dead; Top Nine Trending Entertainment Stories of 2019. Aired 4-5a ET
Aired December 28, 2019 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): A crash investigation: recovery efforts continue after a helicopter tour of Hawaii ends in tragedy. An update on the investigation into what went wrong.
Plus, the U.S. president simmering over his impeachment this holiday season. More on what he's saying on Twitter as the impasse lingers on.
Also ahead this hour, the unexpected victims of the Australian wildfire. The bush fire impact fire and smoke are having on the nation's most beloved animals.
We want to welcome our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. I'm George Howell, CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.
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HOWELL: It is 4:00 am on the U.S. East Coast. It is good to be back with you this day.
We begin in the U.S. state of Hawaii. Teams there on the ground set to resume the search for one person still missing after a tourist helicopter crash. The remains of six others on board have been recovered. Our Josh Campbell has the latest for you.
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JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: The crash site in a remote area inside a state park in the northwest section of the island of Kauai. This tourism helicopter was one of many that you typically see here in Hawaii, a popular attraction that allows tourists the ability to look inside volcanoes, at waterfalls, to get a sense of the state's landscape and wildlife, a routine tourist excursion ending in tragedy.
This all began on Thursday afternoon. The Coast Guard, the U.S. Navy as well as Kauai Fire and Rescue were alerted after the tourism helicopter failed to return to base at its allotted time. That missing aircraft report launched a massive search and rescue effort involving multiple agencies throughout the night, working some 16 hours by sea, air and land.
As far as the cause of this incident, that remains under investigation. We're told that officials from the National Transportation Safety Board as well as the Federal Aviation Administration are currently on the way here to launch that investigation to get to that root cause.
We're told earlier reports possibly point to inclement weather, especially high winds. Now as far as those who were on board, sad developments we are learning today from officials. We are told that in addition to the pilot, there were two families aboard, including four adults, two children.
Officials announcing the remains from six of those people have been recovered, a search for the seventh continues -- Josh Campbell, CNN, Honolulu.
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HOWELL: Josh, thank you.
In Kazakhstan, a major development following a crash there. Investigators found the black boxes belonging to a passenger jet that crashed on Friday. Those boxes will be sent to Moscow for decryption.
In the meantime, Kazakhstan is observing a day of mourning for the 12 people that were killed. Dozens more were injured; 98 people were on board the Dek Air flight. Investigators say the aircraft, specifically a Fokker 100 plane, plunged to the ground seconds into the flight, broke through a concrete barrier and hit a two-story building.
A committee is investigating the crash but as a precaution, all Fokker 100 planes in the country have been temporarily grounded.
Pivoting now to the impeachment of the U.S. president Donald Trump and his demand for a speedy trial in the Senate, that demand seems to be going nowhere fast. The president showing signs that's it's apparently ruining his vacation, as our Phil Mattingly reports.
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PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As President Trump continued his holiday Twitter barrage against Democrats on impeachment, Speaker Nancy Pelosi continuing to press her party's case in her own tweet, saying, quote, "President Trump abused his power for his own personal gain."
Yet, for all the 280-character thoughts, the battle over what the looming Senate trial will look like remain where it's been for days, at an impasse -- sources telling CNN no conversations between the top two Senate leaders have occurred or are likely to before January. And with tangible action tabled for the moment, it's the rhetorical fights sitting at center stage.
REP. MARK POCAN (D-WI): All the people that Donald Trump has said that can profess his innocence, he hasn't let come before Congress and she's trying to make sure that they're going to be able to testify before the Senate.
MATTINGLY: To some degree, a clear Democratic strategy to get under the president's skin, something sources tell CNN is exactly what's happened.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They're playing games. They don't want to put in their articles, their ridiculous, phony, fraudulent articles.
MATTINGLY: But even more importantly, Democratic sources say, to exert pressure on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
POCAN: If we can help use this as leverage to make the Senate do the right thing.
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POCAN: Mitch McConnell already said that he's working hand in hand with the White House on this. He's not an impartial juror.
MATTINGLY: McConnell has rejected Democratic calls to subpoena witnesses and documents in the initial trial rules resolution and has scoffed at the Democratic pressure play.
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): I'm not sure what leverage there is in refraining from sending us something we do not want.
MATTINGLY: The reality is the expectation, at least to people I talk on both sides of the aisle, is the answers to most or all of these questions should come quite soon after lawmakers return to Capitol Hill in January.
The reality here is nobody is actually totally sure and here's, why Speaker Pelosi has kept her plans, what she wants to do going forward, when she wants to send those articles to the United States Senate very closely held. Nobody really has a firm understanding of what her next steps will be. As one Democratic lawmaker texted me earlier today, just stay tuned, I guess -- Phil Mattingly, CNN, Washington.
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HOWELL: And there are questions about what is next for U.S. secretary of state Mike Pompeo. He said he's not interested in running for the U.S. Senate. Still there are signs that suggest what Pompeo says and what he does may be two separate things, like this, his brand new personal social media profile.
It reads husband, father, Kansan and proud American. A much softer look than the buttoned down formality of the official State Department account. Some question whether it is a sign that he is, indeed, interested in a run for U.S. Senate.
And a source says the White House is working on a list for possible replacements for Pompeo. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is said to be interested but deputy secretary Stephen Biegun would be a natural choice. He's number two at the agency already and could fill in as acting secretary for many months.
Another possibility is Robert O'Brien. He's now the national security adviser.
A lot to put into focus this day and, to do so, let's bring in Natasha Lindstaedt, live from Birmingham, England.
Thanks for being with us.
NATASHA LINDSTAEDT, UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX: Thanks for having me.
HOWELL: Let's talk about this impasse between the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. The House Speaker keeping close her plans about how and whether to move forward. The Senate majority leader, essentially, calling her bluff.
Do you believe that this is, indeed, putting pressure on Mitch McConnell?
LINDSTAEDT: I don't think it is putting much pressure on Mitch McConnell. I think it is making Donald Trump's holiday absolutely terrible. And we can see the results of that because he's been on a tweetstorm and calling Nancy Pelosi "crazy Nancy Pelosi," so he's going for very personal attacks. So it has got under his skin.
But Mitch McConnell, really, has the power here because the way the Senate is made up, there's a majority of Republicans in the Senate. They would need two-thirds to pass. Eventually even if Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats were to get their way and were to get a couple concessions from Republicans, it won't make a difference.
Once Mitch McConnell announced, this is going to be a sham trial, I'm not going to uphold this oath that I took, I am going to be working with Donald Trump. We're going to get this over with as quickly as possible. It might even happen in a week and this is going to be no big deal.
I think that really annoyed her and she felt, well, not so fast. We're going to delay this process a little bit. Try to get some concessions out of you and see if we can at least make this trial appear to be a little bit more fair and impartial.
HOWELL: McConnell indicated that he would be working hand in hand with the White House in this. The president accusing the White House of playing games by withholding articles of impeachment.
Democrats point to the fact that though the president claims that he is innocent, claims that he wants to present witnesses, they say he's the one who is blocking those witnesses.
How significant is that in all of this?
LINDSTAEDT: Well, that has been part of the Democrats' main arguments, there's been an obstruction of Congress. They didn't go all the way to the obstruction of justice because that would have brought them back to the Mueller probe.
But overall, Trump has played the cards very, very differently than any other president, even more so than Nixon. And I know there was some obstruction going on in the Nixon case.
He just hasn't complied with anything. He ignores rules, processes and all the democratic institutions that are in place are becoming more and more fragile because he simply won't agree, won't abide by any of these rules.
And this has been very difficult for the Democrats to deal with because the mechanisms in place to try to rectify this take a really long time to come to fruition because you have to go through the courts.
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LINDSTAEDT: So it's really a new era for politics because it's become so polarized and because also you have Donald Trump not abiding by any of these.
HOWELL: Also, there are questions. We just mentioned this here, the report, the questions about the U.S. secretary of state and what 2020 may mean for Mike Pompeo.
The reports that suggest he may want to run for Senate and the Senate majority leader allegedly or reportedly, rather, pushing him to do so. It is leaving a great deal of uncertainty about what is next in that vital role, given that Mr. Trump and Pompeo do seem to get along, when you consider what's been a revolving door in that White House.
LINDSTAEDT: Right. And there were some reports there might be some tension and I think this has been a difficult period for Pompeo because he's been roped into this whole impeachment probe.
And he appeared to be a very important player in the impeachment probe, having not defended Marie Yovanovitch and refusing to cooperate with all these other people. So for Mike Pompeo, it's been very clear that he's been very, very loyal to Trump.
And I think what he is doing is he is eyeing a Senate seat in Kansas. He may say that's not what he wants to do. That's what politicians always say. They deny that they're going to run or make some different maneuver.
But he's been very, very loyal to Trump because he knows that that is how you win in Republican areas. So in Kansas, which is a fairly Republican state, if he remains loyal to Trump, tries to stay out of this whole impeachment thing, he can quietly go and try to run for the Senate seat. And that would be an easier position than being secretary of state,
where there's just all kinds of things and challenges that he has to face that make it very, very difficult and particularly because of the impeachment probe seem to involve him so heavily.
So then what's next?
If he decides to go, then Trump is going to have to appoint somebody else or they may have someone that's just acting. But the key thing Trump needs is someone that is very, very loyal.
We've seen this with the attorney general, when he was able to appoint Bill Barr, that completely shifted everything in his favor with the Department of Justice and the secretary of state needs to be very loyal because Rex Tillerson, the previous secretary of state, wasn't quite as loyal.
That didn't go over very well with Trump. So whatever happens in the future, we're going to see someone that will come in, that will basically be another Trump lackey.
HOWELL: Natasha, we appreciate your time. Thank you.
LINDSTAEDT: Thanks for having me.
HOWELL: Breaking news into CNN, we are following this story out of Somalia. A government spokesman says a suicide car bomb attack in the capital city of Mogadishu has left at least 30 people dead there; 60 people have been wounded, according to reports.
Police say the attack happened at about 8:00 am local time at a key checkpoint. Both civilian and soldiers are among the dead. Somalia's Al Qaeda affiliate al Shabaab has claimed responsibility for the attack. We'll continue to gather information and bring you developments as we learn more.
Still ahead on CNN NEWSROOM live, deadly fires raging in Australia and they're putting these beloved animals at risk. Ahead, how one hospital is helping to save the koalas.
Plus, NASA has unveiled a new rover that will collect samples on Mars. More on the device that will pave the way to a manned mission out to the Red Planet. Stay with us.
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HOWELL (voice-over): A tractor-trailer jackknifing there on a highway on Friday. The truck swerves as an SUV switches lanes right in front of it. You can see police officers scrambling to get out of the way as the truck barrels ahead.
Officers were responding to multiple accidents that day. A local TV news crew was on the scene. They captured the video. Two people were injured, we understand. Somehow no one was killed. Dense fog created hazardous driving conditions at the time there.
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HOWELL: In Australia, as bush fires rage on, we now know that they're having a devastating impact on koalas. Koalas are being particularly hard hit in New South Wales as their habitats are being destroyed. My colleague Natalie Allen explains, there is hope as experts fight to save one koala at a time.
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NATALIE ALLEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A koala hospital in Australia overwhelmed with patients with wildfire injuries.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He seems to be quite dehydrated and probably quite hungry.
ALLEN (voice-over): Not all were lucky like this little one. Animal experts estimate hundreds of koalas have died in deadly bush fires raging in Eastern Australia since September.
Australia's environment minister saying on Friday up to 30 percent of koalas in the country's New South Wales region may have been killed in the ongoing fires. The region's Port Macquarie Koala Hospital has admitted more than 300 of these adorable animals so far this year.
But the hospital's director says the support from the public has been equally overwhelming. The hospital has received over $2 million in donations on the GoFundMe page site.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The number of visitors that are here at the Koala Hospital over the last 5-6 weeks has been phenomenal. Everyone is so afraid that we're going to lose koalas that they want to come and see them. That's the power of the koala worldwide.
ALLEN (voice-over): The government says it's working with koala experts and $6 million has been set aside to help save and rehab them. A new heat wave is expected to hit parts of the country over the weekend and into next week, raising fears that high temperatures and dry winds could further intensify the raging infernos.
That's all bad news for the already vulnerable koala community.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very little would actually survive in there unscathed. Wallabies, kangaroos, deer would get out because they can run but koalas just really can't.
ALLEN (voice-over): The Australian Koala Foundation says the numbers are dwindling and the species is at risk of extinction if the population continues to shrink. Rising temperatures, which dry out their habitats, deforestation and disease are taking a toll. The staff here hope his fate will be different in a time when the death of even one koala could be one too many -- Natalie Allen, CNN, Atlanta.
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HOWELL: China now has its eyes to the stars after a successful rocket launch. Take a look.
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HOWELL (voice-over): The applause you hear there, that was the reaction at mission control after the two previous attempts that had failed. But on Friday, China announced that its Long March 5 carried a satellite into orbit. A former NASA astronaut explains what that means.
LEROY CHIAO, FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT: China's space program, first and foremost, as in any national space program, is about national pride and prestige. The other countries are definitely paying attention to the Chinese space program. China has made it clear there in it for the long haul. They are in for the long investment and they've already marked up several successes, both in unmanned probes and in human spaceflight as well.
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HOWELL: You hear it there, China in it for the long haul. Now the country's space program is focusing on ambitious goals, including land ago person on the Moon as early as next year.
Scientists at NASA and the United States are looking ahead to Mars now, hoping a brand new Mars rover will help to determine whether life ever existed on the Red Planet. The unnamed space vehicle made its debut on Friday. NASA plans to launch it next summer. CNN's Paul Vercammen has more on the multibillion dollar mission.
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PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm here inside the clean room at JPL and behind me arguably the most tricked out vehicle in the solar system, the Mars 2020 rover.
Among the new features on this rover, the terrain relative navigation. If you see that sort of red triangle, our camera in there is going to be taking images of Mars as it parachutes down into a crater.
And why this is important is this camera is going to match images taken from the orbit and that way they can make much more daring landings, such as in a crater. Before they always had the safest bet, a nice, flat surface. This will also allow them to avoid hazards such as a rock outcropping
or something that might endanger the landing of the vehicles. Also as we look at this vehicle, it will take some 300 scientists operated. You can't see this well but back down there in the body, MOXIE.
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VERCAMMEN: Why MOXIE is important is it will try to convert this Martian atmosphere into oxygen and, down the road, if we're going on put men on Mars and women, we're going to need the ability to convert the Martian atmosphere into breathable oxygen.
They can't haul all the oxygen with them, so that is where MOXIE comes in and as we said, converts it to breathable air.
When does the Mars 2020 rover launch?
Right now, it's on schedule for July or August of 2020. That's when we will be close to Mars again here on Earth. Also, they're calling it the Mars 2020 rover for now but there's a contest that involves students and we believe, before too long, you will hear a new name for this vehicle -- reporting from Pasadena, I'm Paul Vercammen, now back to you.
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HOWELL: The closing bell has rung at the New York stock exchange for the last Friday of 2019.
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HOWELL (voice-over): And there it was. Both the Dow and the SNP 500 closed at record highs but stocks overall finished mixed as the Nasdaq's 11-day winning streak came to an end.
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HOWELL: Investors are savoring the overall strong December.
So what's fueling the gains?
Clare Sebastian reports.
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CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Call it festive spirit, call it fear of missing out, perhaps. However you look at it, though, it's been an impressive holiday season for the stock markets. And a big part of this is to do with trade.
The Trump administration says it expects a phase one trade deal with China will be signed in early January. That doesn't mean the trade war is over but it does mean for the moment some tariffs are being rolled back and there won't be any more put in place.
For businesses trying to plan ahead, that's a big deal. Now secondly, the R word, recession. Six months ago, the bond market was flashing a warning signal, manufacturing was in decline in the U.S. and Germany. It still is, of course. There was a lot of talk of a possible recession.
Those fears, though, have since faded. The threat of a no deal Brexit has receded and we got a bit of positive news from China this week with a rise in industrial profit. But there's one key difference between last year's December market meltdown and this year's gains and that's the Federal Reserve.
2018 brought four rate rises. 2019 has brought us three rate cuts. Next year, the Fed is expected to wait and see. So for now, the markets are betting the era of easy money is here to stay -- Clare Sebastian, CNN, New York.
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HOWELL: Clare, thank you.
You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live. Right back after this.
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HOWELL: Welcome back to viewers here in the United States and all around the world. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Atlanta. I'm George Howell with the headlines we're following for you this hour.
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HOWELL: There's new controversy surrounding the U.S. Navy SEAL whose court-ordered punishment was reversed by President Trump. "The New York Times" has obtained video of his former platoon members, describing him in grim terms to investigators.
Our Barbara Starr has the details. And we warn you going into this report, it contains disturbing images.
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BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Members of SEAL Team 7 Alpha platoon broke their own code of silence in 2018 with their opinions about retired Special Operations chief Eddie Gallagher and some making accusations that the elite SEAL committed murder and potential war crimes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The guy got crazier and crazier.
STARR (voice-over): These are portions of recorded Navy SEAL interviews published by "The New York Times," where team members tell investigators their views on the platoon leader.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The guy was toxic. It's (INAUDIBLE).
STARR (voice-over): Gallagher was acquitted of premeditated murder when a key prosecution witness changed his story and testified under immunity that he caused the prisoner's death, not Gallagher.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you suffocate him?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: By holding my thumb over his ET tube until he stopped breathing.
STARR (voice-over): Scott described the killing as an act of mercy because he was concerned the boy, a prisoner of Iraqi forces, would be tortured by them.
Gallagher was convicted on a charge of taking a photo with a dead ISIS fighter and was then demoted in rank, a decision President Trump reversed, allowing the SEAL to retire with honor, even after Pentagon leaders urged the president not to interfere.
Speaking through his attorney, Gallagher told CNN, "My first reaction to seeing the videos was surprise and disgust that they would make up blatant lies about me. But I quickly realized that they were scared that the truth would come out of how cowardly they acted on deployment."
His attorney says the tapes were, quote, "a road map to acquittal" because they showed there were conflicting stories about allegations of Gallagher killing civilians and other misconduct.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Really, you're only seeing one very small slice of the story in a way that's not reflective of what the ultimate result was.
STARR (voice-over): President Trump's determination to reverse the military's punishment of Gallagher against the advice of top Pentagon officials was so controversial, Navy Secretary Richard Spencer was ousted. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff insists that discipline and adherence to the laws of war will not suffer.
GEN. MARK MILLEY, USJC CHAIRMAN: We do maintain and we will maintain good order and discipline.
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MILLEY: We will not turn into a gang of raping, burning and pillaging.
STARR (voice-over): But some say it's all led to festering bad feelings. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So it's this kind of divisiveness that the president's actions have introduced into the SEAL community I think that are the most damaging and will have long-term effects.
STARR (voice-over): Gallagher met with Trump over the holidays at Mar-a-lago and it's possible he will campaign for Trump if asked, those who know him say -- Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.
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HOWELL: Still ahead, comfort in crisis: bringing the comforts of home to U.S. service members and their families, especially this time of year.
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HOWELL: Here in the United States, radio host Don Imus has died. He was 79 years old. His show, "Imus in the Morning" was often broadcast not just on radio but also on television. He frequently touched on controversy and in some cases made outrageous remarks.
Imus was taken off the air in 2007 for a racist comment directed at a women's college basketball team. He retired for good in March of last year. His family, though, didn't share how he died. He had previously been diagnosed with prostate cancer.
A key figure behind "A Charlie Brown Christmas" has died. Lee Mendelson helped to create it. He was 86 years old. While his name might not be familiar to you, his work probably is.
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HOWELL: Love that.
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HOWELL: Mendelson wrote the lyrics to "Christmas Time Is Here" on the Charlie Brown Christmas TV show. Mendelson was also the executive producer of the show and the other specials with the "Peanuts" gang. He died Christmas Day at his home in San Francisco after a long battle with cancer.
Lee Mendelson's son said, quote, "It was not a great time for us but it was not a bad time for him to pass."
Now this story is about U.S. veterans and their family members. This time of year, many are spending the holidays away from home, many recovering at military and veteran hospitals around the world.
But thanks to a nonprofit called the Fisher House Foundation, some have been able to find a home away from home and to find friends to help them through challenging times. Our Brianna Keilar has this for you.
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BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Retired Army Major Pete Way and his service dog, Rory, have traveled to Walter Reed Medical Center just outside Washington, D.C., several times.
They stay at one of five Fisher Houses on base, group homes designed to provide comfortable lodging and a supportive community at no cost. They are available to active duty military, veterans and their family members as they receive treatment at military and VA hospitals.
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WAY: It's a reminder that I'm not alone in this and that there's other people who basically have the same situation and that I'm not alone.
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KEILAR (voice over): Sometimes Way stays days, sometimes months, a long way from his family and home in Georgia, as he tries to find a prosthetic leg that will finally work long term.
Way was injured in a 2003 IED explosion in Afghanistan. He spent more than a decade enduring two dozen surgeries until shrapnel wounds caused an infection that nearly killed him and ultimately took his leg.
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WAY: I've had 35 surgeries now. The 25th surgery was the amputation.
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KEILAR (voice over): Before his case manager connected him with Fisher House, Way stayed in a hotel draining his financial resources and his hope, as he thought about what to do when he could no longer afford lodging.
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WAY: I've probably would have spent a few nights in the car initially and then most certainly with just the cost of living around here, I would have probably gone bankrupt.
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KEILAR (voice over): This is just one of 86 Fisher Houses around the world. Ken Fisher's family, prominent in New York City real estate broke ground on the first Fisher House in 1991 increasing the capacity of the homes after the wars that followed 9/11 when more servicemen and women were surviving catastrophic injuries.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) KEN FISHER, CEO, FISHER HOUSE: That would have been fatal in years in years and wars past. So that was going to require longer hospital stays. So we knew that the size of the houses were going to have to grow.
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KEILAR (voice over): Recently retired Army Colonel Michael Malone is also staying at this 20-room Fisher House with his wife, Jennifer. Their second of two six-month stays while he receives treatment for a traumatic brain injury and a still undiagnosed illness that began while he was deployed to the Middle East.
At first, Jennifer commuted from New York on weekends.
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COL. MICHAEL MALONE (RET), U.S. ARMY: I kept hoping that, you know, this miraculous turnaround and I get better and you know, I could continue service and I'd be off on to my next mission, but I just wasn't getting better and I wasn't recovering, so you know, I really needed my wife to come down and help me.
JENNIFER MOK, WIFE OF COL. MICHAEL MALONE: You never understand the severity until you're like there constant and I basically became his advocate and focused on his care a hundred percent. And it felt good because I missed him, you know, that bond was gone for a while.
You know, the reconnection and getting to see him get better day by day. It was a good feeling.
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KEILAR (voice over): Michael and Jennifer have found a home away from home at this Fisher House, together after two years spent largely apart, celebrating Thanksgiving and now Christmas with friends they've made here.
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CHIEF MASTER SGT. MARK BURDITT, U.S. AIR FORCE: You're sharing a house with other people who are on a similar journey. Different reasons sometimes, but there's a there's a sense of camaraderie.
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KEILAR (voice over): As I spoke with Chief Master Sergeant Mark Burditt, his wife Diana was resting in their room following her 29th radiation treatment for lung cancer.
As a nonsmoker, she was shocked when she was diagnosed just over two months ago. The military medevaced the Burditts from Ramstein Air Base in Germany on three hours' notice.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BURDITT: Before we hit the ground here, we found out that the Fisher House was going to be putting us up and it took an awful lot of worry off of our hearts and they've been just fantastic.
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KEILAR (voice over): These families are now focusing on the demands of recovery without the added stress of social isolation and financial strain, even in the most challenging times of their lives, finding comfort and even purpose in a Fisher House.
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KEILAR (voice-over): Where Rory, the service dog, offers therapy sessions for the low price of a Goldfish cracker.
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WAY: He has a sense -- he has that dog sixth sense. He could pick out the person who's not having such a good moment and he will just go right to him every time and if I wasn't here, you know, we wouldn't be able to share that either.
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HOWELL: We mentioned this breaking news earlier in the show out of Somalia. A government spokesperson says a suicide car bomb attack in the capital city of Mogadishu has left at least 61 people dead.
Police say the attack happened about 8:00 am local time at a key checkpoint there. Both civilian and soldiers are among the dead. Somalia's Al Qaeda affiliate Al-Shabaab is claiming responsibility. We'll continue to bring you the details as we learn more. More news on the other side of this break.
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HOWELL: 2019 in review brought a record breaking year at the box office, an unlikely music pairing and a battle for viewers on streaming services. CNN's Stephanie Elam looks back at the year in entertainment.
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STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Winter came and went, the final battle for the Iron Throne, Avengers pack a punch at the box office and Lizzo storms the airwaves with her juice. Here's a look at the top entertainment news in 2019. Number nine, "Jeopardy!" host Alex Trebek's courageous battle against pancreatic cancer.
ALEX TREBEK, "JEOPARDY!" HOST: I have some news to share with all of you.
ELAM (voice over): Trebek announced his stage 4 diagnosis in March and vowed to aggressively fight the disease. He underwent intense chemotherapy and resurfaced just five months later to announce he was on the mend.
TREBEK: I'm happy to report I'm still here.
ELAM (voice over): And ready to return to "Jeopardy!" for its 36th season. In a touching moment like Trebek choked up during a very special final "Jeopardy!" round.
TREBEK: What is - we love you, that's very kind. Thank you.
ELAM (voice over): A TV star embroiled in a hate crime scandal is number eight, "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett who is gay and black claimed to have been the target of a racist and homophobic attack. Police say Smollett staged the attack to gain attention.
EDDIE JOHNSON, FORMER CHICAGO POLICE SUPERINTENDENT: Jussie Smollett took advantage of the pain and anger of racism to promote his career.
ELAM (voice over): Smaller was indicted on 16 felony counts, but prosecutors later dropped all the charges. Smollett maintains his innocence.
JUSSIE SMOLLETT, ACTOR: I would not be my mother's son if I was capable of doing what I was accused of.
ELAM (voice over): He didn't return for the show's sixth and final season.
A new type of battle brings us to number seven, the fight for your streaming views and subscription dollars. Joining heavy hitters Netflix and Hulu are the new kids on the block Apple TV+, Disney+ and soon Peacock and HBO Max. Netflix is still the king with over 150 million subscribers. But industry insiders are watching the impact these new platforms will have against their established rivals.
FRANK PALLOTTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Content is arguably at the core of any streaming service. That's why we've seen record setting production and licensing deals over the last few years.
ELAM (voice over): Oprah, Reese Witherspoon and J.J. Abrams are just some of the names behind original content coming out soon.
At number six, a sad farewell to a 90210 legend and a beloved rapper.
NIPSEY HUSSLE, RAPPER: Once again prevail.
ELAM (voice over): In March, Nipsey Hussle was shot and killed near a clothing store he owned in Los Angeles.
HUSSLE: That's why he follow me ...
ELAM (voice over): The Grammy nominated rapper collaborated with dozens of artists including Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar and Drake. He embraced his role as an activist. Hussle had been scheduled to meet with city officials the next day to discuss ways to stop gang violence.
Actor Luke Perry was meant to join his original "Beverly Hills, 90210" classmates for a reboot of the show, but sadly the 52-year-old died of a massive stroke in March. Perry was best known for playing 90s bad boy Dylan McKay on "90210."
But his most recent role on TV's "Riverdale" introduced him to a new generation of fans. Both shows a tribute to the actor they knew and loved.
Number five, Lil Nas X breaks the music charts with "Old Town Road."
LIL NAS X, RAPPER: I got the horses in the back. Horse tack is attached...
ELAM (voice over): The country rapper has jammed with Billy Ray Cyrus topped the Billboard Hot 100 for a record 19 weeks. Just a year ago Lil Nas X was flying under the radar, but that all changed when he self-released "Old Town Road" on iTunes, SoundCloud and YouTube.
But it was a viral TikTok meme that turned his new beat into a banger.
LIL NAS X: Yes, I'm going to take my horse to the old town road...
ELAM (voice over): The song hit a bump in the road when Billboard pulled it from the country charts, generating cries of racism. But the rapper turned it around and hit a string of personal and professional triumphs. He came out over the summer. His single went Triple Platinum and it reached Diamond status.
LIZZETTE MARTINEZ, SURVIVOR: I never really recovered from it.
ELAM (voice over): At number four, Lifetime's bombshell documentary "Surviving R. Kelly."
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A development now involving R&B singer R. Kelly, the district attorney in Fulton County, Georgia, is apparently now conducting an investigation following the release of that Lifetime docuseries called "Surviving R. Kelly."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, good morning.
ELAM (voice over): The embattled singer, spent his year in and out of court defending himself against sexual misconduct charges dating back 20 years. The R&B star was charged on 18 federal accounts in Illinois and New York.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Free you R. Kelly they go and free you. ELAM (voice over): He has denied any wrongdoing.
R. KELLY, SINGER: I promise you, we're going to straighten all this stuff out. That's all I can say right now.
[04:55:00]
ELAM (voice over): Kelly remains jailed without bond.
BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH, ACTOR: We're in the end game now.
ELAM (voice over): And number three, "Avengers: Endgame" knocked out an epic win at the box office, becoming the highest-grossing film of all time.
Diehard MCU fans packed theaters to the tune of $2.8 billion worldwide. "Endgame" surpassed James Cameron's "Avatar," which held the previous global box office record for 10 years.
CHRIS HEMSWORTH, ACTOR: I like this one.
ELAM: "Endgame" caps an 11-year buildup in the Marvel Universe, which began with "Iron Man" in 2008. From "Captain Marvel" to "Black Panther" to "Thor" and "Guardians of the Galaxy," the Infinity Saga netted over $22.5 billion.
Coming in at number two, the final episode of HBO's "Game of Thrones".
LENA HEADEY, ACTOR, "CERSEI LANNISTER": When you play the "Game of Thrones," you win.
ELAM (voice over): The series finale capped off a nine-year television and pop-culture phenomenon. Making it one of the most anticipated endings in television history. The build-up through season eight had viewers anticipating an epic ending for the future of Westeros.
The finale titled "The Iron Throne" brought in a series record of 19.3 million viewers.
LIZZO, SINGER: I'd be waiting for this one. Turn it up.
ELAM (voice over): There's a new goddess on the popping hip-hop scene. Lizzo's meteoric rise makes her number one on our list. She's fierce, unapologetic and her music is an anthem for self-love and body positivity. Lizzo turned her 2016 mainstream music debut into global success in 2019.
"Truth Hurts" topped the Billboard Top 100 chart for seven weeks. The music video has over 162 million YouTube views and she makes the splash with her confident message everywhere she goes.
2020 will be another big year for some of the newsmakers on our list. Lizzo is nominated for eight Grammy Awards and watch for phase four of the Marvel movies to begin. "Black Widow" opens in May -- Stephanie Elam, CNN, Hollywood. (END VIDEOTAPE)
HOWELL: That's the news this hour. I'm George Howell at the CNN Center in Atlanta. Let's do it again. More news after the break. Stay with us.
