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Police Chasing Leads in CEO's Killing in New York; U.S. State Department: Allegation of Genocide in Gaza Unfounded; Violence Escalated in Georgia Government Crackdown; Notre Dame Reopens This Weekend After Five Years. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired December 06, 2024 - 04:30   ET

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

[04:30:00]

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster. If you're just joining us, here are some of today's top stories.

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy visited congressional leaders on Capitol Hill, along with Elon Musk's son, to discuss their plans for improving government efficiency. House Speaker Mike Johnson says the meeting focused mostly on what federal funds they can claw back to make the government run more smoothly.

In Syria, rebel forces have swept through another strategic stronghold in their unexpected military advance. Hama, a symbolic and strategically important city, marks the second major gain for rebel forces following their grab of Aleppo last week. Syrian government forces have reportedly withdrawn from the city, although airstrikes continue.

And there are new clues in the search for the man accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

Investigators in New York say the suspect, who's still on the run, was seen on surveillance footage getting off a bus from Atlanta 10 days before the shooting.

Meanwhile, investigators have got their first look into the -- or onto the face of the person of interest. In that case, Brian Todd has more now from New York.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There's surveillance video of the shooting itself with the alleged gunman wearing a mask. Newly released video of what appears to be the man fitting the description of the suspect walking in the area of the killing on Wednesday morning. Video of what could be the suspect on an e-bike on the west side of Manhattan.

New photos of a so called person of interest wearing a hooded jacket but no mask which CNN has geolocated to a Manhattan hostel where police believe the suspect may have stayed. Crucial images which are among the many resources being used by the NYPD to catch the suspect in the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. KATHERINE SCHWEIT, FORMER FBI SPECIAL AGENT: NYPD and the FBI have a great ability to pull together video surveillance and piece it together moment by moment and follow somebody through any camera available. And that's what the goal is first is from the incident, every moment after that, every moment before that. Can we see this individual?

TODD (voice-over): CNN is told there's facial recognition technology being used. The NYPD's Joint Operations Center is being utilized to deploy field teams and analyze the video coming in. Law enforcement experts tell us another resource police have will help them trace and possibly match the bullet shell casings left at the scene. A shell and a live round with the words delay and depose written on them, reflecting popular phrases in the insurance industry.

To analyze the shells, experts say they'll use the ATF's NIBIN system, NIBIN standing for National Integrated Ballistic Information Network, which helps them match shell casings with other crime scenes. There are other physical resources to analyze DNA from a phone and a bottle of water which may have been dropped by the suspect.

JULIETTE KAYYEM, FORMER DHS ASSISTANT SECRETARY: That can possibly hold physical evidence, including fingerprints, but also pieces of hair or something else that would disclose who this person might be.

TODD (voice-over): There's video of the suspect just minutes before the shooting buying water and energy bars at a Starbucks, providing the police with human assets and other resources.

SCHWEIT: How did he make that purchase? Who saw him? Who interacted with him? And what did he do electronically that might have paid for those if he paid cash.

TODD (voice-over): Witnesses at the hostel where the gunman may have stayed could be a critical resource.

SCHWEIT: Also at the hostel, who interacted with him? What did he sound like? Did he have an accent? Did he have -- did he have -- did he sound like he was from the Midwest or from the East Coast?

TODD (voice-over): Another important resource, police going back in time to Thompson's recent background.

KAYYEM: What was happening in Brian Thompson's world in terms of the threats that we're hearing about, things that the company was worried about, statements made by his widow now about the threats that he was facing.

TODD: Former FBI official Katherine Schweit says one key resource for law enforcement is the gunman's circle of family and friends.

[04:35:00]

Even though we don't know his identity yet, she says, someone in that circle likely knows about his grievances with UnitedHealthcare and could well step up to help law enforcement. Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Now, the U.S. intelligence community estimates that Iran has the ability to produce, quote, more than a dozen nuclear weapons. That could happen if Iran decides to enrich its stockpile of uranium, according to a report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. It says Tehran hasn't made the decision to create such a weapon but adds that the country's uranium stores far exceed its stated civilian needs, and it could quickly produce weapons-grade plutonium. The report also says Iran has the largest ballistic missile inventory in the region.

The Israel military says it has launched airstrikes on positions inside Syria, marking a rare instance of Israel acknowledging attacks on its neighbor. Israel says the targets were routes used by Hezbollah to smuggle weapons.

The IDF also says it's killed one of the leaders of the siege on a kibbutz. And a military base during the October 7th terror attacks they say Majdi Aqilan, the deputy commander of the Hamas Shati Battalion, has been eliminated.

Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department says it continues to find, quote, that the allegations of genocide in Gaza are unfounded. Earlier this week, Amnesty International said it had gathered sufficient evidence to believe that Israel's conduct during the war in Gaza amounts to genocide against Palestinians. The State Department spokesperson said it disagreed with the conclusions of Amnesty's report.

Paula Hancock's following this for us, and an achievement, really, for the Israeli military who've been after anyone involved in those attacks.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Max, and also a reminder of the fact that there are still Hamas targets that Israel wants to go after in Gaza. So this is the argument that the Prime Minister has been making, saying he's happy for a ceasefire, but not the end of the war, because Hamas has not been eliminated.

So this is what we're hearing from the Israeli military, saying that the air force took out a Hamas militant who was basically the leader of one of the attacks on October 7th, specifically in Nahal.

This was a military base. It was also a kibbutz just along the border with Gaza. A number of residents were killed during that attack, and a number of others were taken hostage back into Gaza.

They say that it wasn't just this individual that they killed, but also a number of senior Hamas operatives, including, they say, a senior member of a tunneling unit in Hamas.

Now, Hamas hasn't commented at this point, and we have no further information from the Israeli military as to where exactly this took place. Now, meanwhile, Max, you also mentioned that the United States,

through its State Department, is rejecting the accusations that we heard from Amnesty International just a day ago of saying that they had sufficient evidence that Israel's conduct in Gaza did amount to genocide.

We heard from the deputy spokesperson of the State Department saying they continue to find the allegations of genocide are unfounded, and that they disagree with the conclusions of such a report. The State Department did say, though, that they still believe that Amnesty, human rights groups, NGOs play a vital role when it comes to documenting what is happening in Gaza and also analyzing what they're doing.

Now, we did hear from Amnesty this near 300-page report they said was gathered from evidence of a period of about nine months, and they say that there were numerous incidents, they believe, which fell foul of three out of five of the acts that are banned by the U.N. Genocide Convention, including the mass killing of Palestinian civilians and serious bodily or mental harm.

Now, what we've heard from the Israeli side is strong rejection of these allegations. The IDF called it entirely baseless. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs going further, calling Amnesty deplorable and fanatical, saying that the report was entirely false.

But it is just the latest report using the term genocide that we have heard. Just last month, there was a U.N. special committee which issued a report saying that what was happening in northern Gaza potentially could be genocide, again, something that Israel strongly rejects -- Max.

[04:40:00]

FOSTER: In terms of how the U.S. is handling these situations, a lot of people just saying, you know, America always just automatically takes Israel's point of view. But there was a lot of evidence in this Amnesty report. They're just contesting that, are they?

HANCOCKS: So at this point, the State Department is saying that what they saw in the report wasn't enough to make them believe that that this was the case, saying that they disagreed effectively with the conclusions of this report.

Now, the United States is Israel's strongest ally. It is the main provider of arms as well and aid to Israel at this point. And they have been, throughout this war, very supportive of Israel's right to self-defense. There have been criticisms from the United States, and most recently from the U.S. President Joe Biden. But on this particular report, they say they disagree with those conclusions -- Max.

FOSTER: Paula Hancocks, thank you.

Violence escalating in the Republic of Georgia. The country's former president says the current government is doomed to fail. That's story when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: Anti-government protests in Georgia are headed into their second week. Pro-EU supporters rallied in front of the country's parliament in Tbilisi on Thursday night. They opposed the policies of the ruling Georgia Dream Party, which had announced last week it was suspending talks to join the European Union.

The country's former president Georgi Margvelashvili was at the protests. He told Rogers he thought the current government would be on its way out because of the political crisis.

GEORGI MARGVELASHVILI, FORMER GEORGIAN PRESIDENT: This moment that we are witnessing for the last one week in physical terms is the point of non-return. They are doomed to be taken out of the government.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[04:45:00]

FOSTER: Sebastian Shukla has this report on the escalation of violence from the Georgian government in its crackdown on protesters, including journalists and opposition politicians. A warning, the video contains disturbing images.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEBASTIAN SHUKLA, CNN FIELD PRODUCER (voice-over): In the middle of this chaos on the streets of Tbilisi is veteran journalist Guram Rogava. He's reporting live on air the next he's crumpled on the floor, blood pouring from his face. His assault captured from different angles, including this one. You clearly see the black clothed policeman bludgeoning him as he backs away.

Rogava tells CNN he fractured a bone in his neck, injuries that could have been life changing, he told me. doctors said --

GURAM ROGAVA, GEORGIAN JOURNALIST: And we don't know how it's possible that you still can speak and move your legs and hands.

SHUKLA (voice-over): Attacks like this have become commonplace over the past week. Thousands of Georgians have taken to the streets all over the country, furious at the government's decision to suspend talks, joining the European Union and perceived closeness to Moscow. The government's response has been to quash the pro-Western protests using force. These unmarked men in black.

ROGAVA: They look like criminals and they act like criminals. They catch them, they hit them and they swear at them.

SHUKLA (voice-over): Another beating by police. This time two brothers swarmed by dozens of faceless officers. Erkele Loladze told CNN his jaw was broken in two places. He could only answer our questions in writing. ERKELE LOLADZE, GEORGIAN RESIDENT (through translator): They shouted, hit him in the head. Kill him. Multiple groups of them assaulted me, knocking me down four or five times. They kicked me all over my body and at one point someone stood on me with both feet and jumped.

SHUKLA (voice-over): Opposition politicians have also been targeted. Nika Gvaramia, a leader of the Coalition for Change movement in a standoff with more masked policemen before they raided his office, thrown to the ground, beaten unconscious and hauled into detention. The Interior Ministry says he's been arrested and charged for, quote, disobedience to the police.

The prime minister also accusing the opposition of stoking the protests.

IRAKLI KOBAKHIDZE, GEORGIAN PRIME MINISTER (through translator): One thing is confirmed, people were systematically supplied with pyrotechnics and other means by the relevant political forces.

SHUKLA (voice-over): Georgians fear their country slipping back into Russia's orbit. The ugly scenes of violence and political repression have more than shades of a Russian style crackdown.

ROGAVA: We all understand that now we are fighting against Russia. There is war in Georgia now.

SHUKLA (voice-over): Sebastian Shukla, CNN, Berlin.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Centuries of history turned to ash, now restored. Soon the public will be able to see the cleaned up and gleaming Notre Dame Cathedral for themselves when it reopens. Ahead on CNN.

[04:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: Some of the damage from a 7.0 magnitude earthquake that struck off the coast of Northern California on Thursday. The quake was one of the strongest of the year. A tsunami warning that was initially issued for parts of California and Oregon was later cancelled.

California Governor Gavin Newsom has declared a state of emergency whilst damage assessments are underway.

Now after more than five years, Paris' magnificent Cathedral Notre Dame is reopening this weekend. The city is preparing for an official ceremony tomorrow. Dignitaries including Donald Trump and U.S. First Lady Jill Biden expected to attend along with heads of state and celebrities. The inaugural Mass is scheduled for Sunday morning followed by eight days of special masses and prayers. Hundreds of artisans, carpenters and other specialists worked tirelessly to restore the treasured Gothic Cathedral after that devastating fire tearing through it in 2019.

The day Notre Dame went up in flames shocked the world. That includes CNN reporters and camera operators who remember the chaos.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARK ESPLIN, CNN PHOTOJOURNALIST (voice-over): We got the phone call that there was a fire in Notre Dame. So we ran out the door. You could already see the bloom of smoke.

SASKYA VANDOORNE, CNN SR. PRODUCER (voice-over): I just saw flames atop Notre Dame. I was stopped in my tracks. That image will always, you know, forever stay in my mind.

ESPLIN (voice-over): As we arrived, so did the crowds and it's really chaos.

MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): I think all at once, there was the shock that could have happened. The fact that it was spiraling out of control, the way the flames continued to grow.

ESPLIN (voice-over): There's lots of people crying. You're looking around, you really felt like you were witnessing a moment in history.

VANDOORNE (voice-over): It must have been around 10 p.m. or 11 p.m. Parisians started kneeling, praying, some were crying. A moment of kind of reflection, calm in all that madness. I still have chills thinking about it.

ESPLIN (voice-over): The first time we went in, the most striking part was where the spire had collapsed through the ceiling. This huge hole of like burnt out wood.

Everything is still covered in soot, broken glass everywhere. It really feels like you're walking through a fire.

You sort of forget how big trees are when they're 100 years old. We then went back to a workshop where people were carving and forming the shapes of those beams with the trees that we'd seen felled.

[04:55:00]

They've brought these techniques from hundreds of years ago into the present and have managed to pull it off.

BELL (voice-over): I think I was struck most by just how painstaking and elaborate their work was. There were woodworkers, there were stonemasons, there were individual crafts.

ESPLIN (voice-over): It's just this endless pylon of scaffolding.

VANDOORNE (voice-over): I remember going in and just thinking how they're going to get this done in time.

BELL (voice-over): The drones allowed us to see in intricate detail and above human eye level the stonework, the beams, the paintings. Everything that makes Notre-Dame so remarkable in its detail. VANDOORNE (voice-over): It's so much more than just a cathedral. Notre-Dame is Paris. It's a place where, you know, I hope to bring my children once it reopens.

BELL (voice-over): Anyone going back in will have their own personal journey of what it means. I'll, yes, probably go back to my childhood when I go back inside of course. The world will rediscover what they'd forgotten, their own Notre-Dame.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: It really does have to be seen to be believed what they've done there.

Now, NASA's Artemis moon landing program is facing more delays as the agency announces it's pushing back two planned missions. One mission to fly astronauts around the moon next year has been delayed to 2026 and the moon landing originally set for 2026 has been pushed back to 2027.

NASA says the delays are linked to issues with a heat shield on the Orion crew capsule that'll be home to the astronauts during the missions. The heat shield, which keeps the craft from burning up in Earth's atmosphere, eroded in an unexpected way during an uncrewed mission back in 2022.

Thanks for joining me here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster in London. CNN "THIS MORNING" is up next after a quick break.