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U.S. Officials: Syrian Regime May Fall In Days; Trump On War In Syria: This Is Not Our Fight; CEO's Assassination Unleashes Rage Over Denied Claims; Trump Returns To World Stage At Notre Dame Reopening In Paris; QAnon Followers Celebrate Kash Patel As Trump's FBI Pick; Community Rallies Behind Two Kindergartners Shot At School. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired December 07, 2024 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:01:02]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jessica Dean in New York, and we begin this hour with breaking news out of Syria.

Just moments ago, rebels announcing they entered the city of Homs freeing over 3,500 inmates from a military prison. And as they march toward Damascus, it is not clear where President Bashar al-Assad actually is, with conflicting reports about whether he is in the capital.

Syrian rebels are now saying senior Assad regime officials are preparing to defect to them in Damascus as they press on with their advance.

For the latest in this, let's go to CNN's Nic Robertson who is joining us now from London.

Nic, this is moving pretty quickly. How did this war reignite and how are these rebels able to move so quickly across Syria right now?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, it really reignited because Russia and Iran and its proxies, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hezbollah in Syria, who have been propping up Bashar al- Assad looked weak because Russia is fighting in Ukraine and Israel has dealt some deadly blows to Hezbollah and to Iranian interests inside of Syria. That opened the way for the rebels.

How were they able to do it? Look, they've clearly gotten organized. They've clearly built their ranks. It appears that Julani, the leader of HTS, the main rebel group, the umbrella rebel group, has reached out to other rebel groups. They've worked together. It appears as if they've had significant training coming from -- you know, coming from military experts who are well equipped and well-knowledged in fighting and warfare and it has been effective.

They've fought effectively. They've brought their forces to bear on all the different major cities from Aleppo to Hama to Homs. They say they now completely control, fully control Homs, not just liberating the prison, but taking control of it.

And you can tell that they've been working methodically. They get to the outside, they go in. They don't claim that they've controlled the place. 24 hours later, they say they've controlled it. And this has gone on hour by hour through the day.

And in fact, we woke up early today and the rebels' movement had sprung up, reemerged, if you will, reawakened itself in the south of the country.

So by the end of where we are right now, at the end of the day in Syria, you have rebel elements on the very northern outskirts of Damascus, you have rebel elements on the southern outskirts of Damascus and sources tell me that there are recon elements of rebels inside of Damascus itself, and this is why they are able to say that they think Assad is no longer in his normal places in Damascus.

They don't know where he has gone. They do believe that he has left, but is he elsewhere in Damascus? Is he somewhere else in the country? Or has he left the country completely?

It isn't clear at the moment, but it is, as you say, an absolutely rapidly moving picture there.

DEAN: Yes, and help us understand and kind of contextualize the size of the capital, Damascus, and how much ground the rebels have already covered?

ROBERTSON: Well, if we think of Homs, it is about a 60 to 70 miles north of Damascus and Hama, about 50 miles north of that and Aleppo, another 70 miles north of that. Damascus itself is a really big city. I mean, it is one of those cities that is sort of built on a mountainside, goes up into the mountains on one side, but spreads out in these sprawling suburbs built along major highways, highways that go in one direction to Lebanon in another direction to the Iraqi border in other directions further north and east, inside of Syria. It is a big country and a very big capital.

But the rebels, from what we understand, images that we are trying to verify are perhaps five miles from the center of Damascus, in one case, video appearing to indicate they were only one mile away from the very center of Damascus, which is where you have the government buildings, the ancient citadel with its winding, narrow streets and, of course, the sort government buildings.

[18:05:21]

The main institutions, like the Interior Ministry, pretty grim buildings to be taken into and I've been taken off the streets by Syrian government elements before and taken to some of these places, so these are the government buildings.

But what the rebels are now saying is they are talking to senior officials who have been running those buildings and saying, look defect and they say, they are in conversations about these senior officials defecting. And certainly, the way that Assad has run his country, the brutal way that his father ran it and he ran it, I don't think government officials under his regime would be on the verge of quitting and jumping to the other side, unless they really thought that he had completely gone and his machine of enforcing his control and rule was gone as well.

People in Syria have lived in fear of Assad for generations now, and this appears to be coming to an end, although what it is replaced by, that is a whole different question.

DEAN: Right. That's the big question.

All right, Nic Robertson with the latest. Thank you very much for that reporting.

And for more on this Civil War in Syria, let us bring in former Defense secretary and CNN political commentator, Mark Esper.

Secretary Esper, good to see you.

MARK ESPER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good afternoon, Jessica. So I want to pick up kind of where Nic dropped off. Walk us through what you think we are going to see in the next 24 to 48 hours in Syria. And do you expect the rebels to ultimately take Damascus?

ESPER: Yes. Nic gave a thorough rundown there. The fact is, as he said, the rebels are on the doorstep of Damascus, if not inside. Also, we know that there are many people in the suburbs of Damascus who have risen up, have protested. You have rebel groups associated with the Druze and others forcing going north into Damascus.

So it looks like it could be end of days for Bashar Assad and more importantly, the regime that he and his father held grip over the Syrian people for decades.

And so, I think at this point, the fight of the Syrian Army will depend on what they believe the status of Bashar Assad is. Is he going to stay and fight like Volodymyr Zelenskyy did when the Russians invaded? Or is he going to flee like the president of Afghanistan did when the Taliban came? And if he flees, I think the Army collapses.

Look, you already have reports of over a thousand Syrian Army personnel have fled to Iraq. We know that the Russians have redeployed elements of their Air Force back home. We know that the Iranians have redeployed their military personnel and diplomatic personnel back to Iran.

So this looks like, it could be a major collapse happening in the next few days that will reshape the Middle East in extraordinary ways and for years to come.

DEAN: So I want to dig into that for a second. Let's start first with what it could potentially mean for the U.S.

ESPER: Yes, I think for the U.S., first, we look at Russia. I think if Russia -- if Assad falls, Russia gets evicted from the country. They will lose a warm water base at Tartus in the Eastern Mediterranean, and they will lose a strategic airfield just north of there, Latakia, and that will basically mean the end of that foothold they've had in the Middle East now for 10-plus years, that is significant.

Number two, what you'll see is an Iranian retrenchment further going beyond what happened with -- in the wake of the attacks by Israel, so if Hezbollah was always the right fist of Iran's axis of resistance, the arm was Syria. It was the means by which Iran ferried people and munitions and weapons into the country, both by air and by land. And they will now presumably lose that conduit between Iran and Lebanon in terms of rearming Hezbollah. So that's good for not just the United States. That's, of course, good for Israel, so that's important there.

So I think these factors are when you couple that with the decimation of Hezbollah, the decimation of Hamas, you see a very big, probably the most important impact being borne by the Iranians and then being further isolated in the region.

DEAN: Yes, and President-elect Trump today called very explicitly for the U.S. to stay out of this conflict. Do you agree with that assessment?

ESPER: You know, with all the time I spent with Donald Trump, President Trump, he was clear and consistent in terms of not getting involved in wars and ending wars. So I understand the sentiment from what he is saying that. But I would not -- I would not say that in those terms at this moment.

Clearly, we don't want U.S. troops in the fight, but we do have interests there. And I just outlined, you know, two or three or four of them. It is Russia, it is Iran, it is Israel, it is the fate of the proxy militias, Hezbollah and others.

[18:10:05]

So I think we have interests there. The question is, how do we shape this? Because the other unknown out there beyond the whereabouts of Bashar Assad right now is what happens when HTS comes in and seizes control of the capital? What will they be? They were formerly aligned with al-Qaeda. They have jihadist pedigree with them. Will they rule? Will they rule like the Taliban rules Afghanistan? Or will they try and set up some type of government, maybe a theocracy? Who knows?

I think that is the big unknown, and I think it is in our interests. The United States' interests to try and shape that in a positive way, not just for us, but for our allies, Israel and others in the region.

DEAN: Yes, so that was the other part that I wanted to ask you about, which is what does it mean for the Middle East writ large for America's ally of Israel and others? I mean, obviously, you've outlined what it means for Iran, and it just sounds like they are continuing to be weakened.

ESPER: Well, again, it cuts off, you know, a pretty brutal regime to the north, Assad, although he has been focused on this Civil War for many years, nonetheless, it was always a thorn in Israeli's side for decades, which is why Israel went in and captured the Golan Heights and has been holding power there, holding that ground there for many years, that's first.

I mean second, and again, most importantly, is the impact it has on Iran and its ability to resupply and support Hezbollah. Again, the ability to traverse munitions and weapons all the way through Iraq and Syria and into Lebanon.

Keep in mind, that's why we have about 900 troops in Southeast Syria right now. They were there originally of course, as base to -- to help defeat the ISIS caliphate that rose up in the 2014 or so and eventually defeated by the United States, our Kurdish allies and others, but were also there to watch the Iranians, to keep tabs on them and understand what they are doing in the region particularly as it extends into Lebanon and how it might affect the Israelis.

And I figure, at this point in time, the Israelis are watching very carefully about what happens, how it impacts not just Iran, but what it means for Lebanon, Hezbollah, and Lebanon and the future of the Lebanese state.

DEAN: Yes, and I also want to ask you about President Trump -- President-elect Trump meeting with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy today, being back on the world stage. What did you make of their meeting? Zelenskyy saying it was essentially good and productive.

ESPER: Well, you know, first and foremost, if you had emerged from a cave after sleeping for 10 years and watched TV the last few weeks, you would think Donald Trump is the president because he is taking calls from world leaders, visits from others like Prime Minister Trudeau of Canada and here he is in Paris being greeted by President Macron and Joe Biden has been off the stage.

So he is looking very presidential, looking like he is in charge. It was important that he had that meeting with Zelenskyy, although they came out and the body language looked grim, it just -- there were no smiles, they looked a little awkward.

But needless to say, Zelenskyy and Macron and all the Europeans are very concerned about the decisions that Donald Trump will make when he comes into office on January 20th with regard, first and foremost to Ukraine, will the United States continue to support Ukraine with weapons and munitions? Will they push for or will they negotiate a ceasefire that does not benefit Zelenskyy at all?

So these are all important questions that the Europeans and others, of course, around the world are concerned about, and Donald Trump -- President Trump is the one that will make that decision in a few weeks.

DEAN: Right. And today December 7th, of course, the anniversary of Pearl Harbor and the Pearl Harbor attack and it was decades and decades ago, it may feel long ago and far away, but I can't help but think now as I am just looking at these images, Zelenskyy fighting for democracy against Russia, Trump being in France, of course, rebuilt after World War Two. That world order that was set up with the United States being the superpower that we have all grown up in is now really being tested that world order.

Do you think we are approaching another inflection point in history?

ESPER: Oh absolutely. You know, when I came into office, we were working off the premise that we were now in a new era of great power competition, that the interwar period between '91 and, you know pick your date, let's say 2017, 2018, when we introduced our new strategy that was just a period of peace in between these great power struggles, the first being against -- the Cold War against the USSR, and now a new alignment of the democracies against the autocracies of the world led by China.

And of course, we were caught off guard. We weren't prepared for World War II in the Pacific and not in Europe either, but it brought us into the war. And I think, number one, we need to and we've learned that lesson that we have to remain strong and capable. And I think there is a whole lot more we should be doing these days to remain capable and effective.

But we also know that we went to war with our allies and our allies need to be prepared as well. They need to increase defense spending, both in Europe and in Asia, because China is a far different adversary than Russia was, far more capable complex, bigger, more technologically advanced and, of course, the second largest economy in the world.

So this is going to be the struggle of this century between the democratic order led by the United States and the autocrats led by Beijing in China and the Communist Party, and we're not yet prepared for that. We are not making a sense of urgency out of it, that we should.

[18:15:25]

And in my view, this fight between Russia and Ukraine is the first hot conflict of this new era, and we should wake up and realize that what happens in Ukraine is going to have global reverberations.

DEAN: All right, Secretary Mark Esper, thank you so much. We really appreciate it.

And we have breaking news tonight as we learn crucial new details about the NYPD's urgent search for the person who fatally shot a healthcare CEO in Midtown Manhattan.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:20:33]

DEAN: Breaking news tonight. The manhunt for the suspect in the shooting of a healthcare CEO on a New York street is now in its fourth day. Detectives from the NYPD are in Atlanta tonight as part of that investigation.

Now, since the shooting, there has been an incredible outpouring of rage directed not at the shooter, but at the health insurance industry. Thousands of messages online that are rallying behind the killer. One message online reading: "Prior authorization is required for thoughts and prayers. Claim denied."

CNN's Jason Carroll has more on why this murder is striking a nerve across the country.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Soon after the shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, came the somewhat unexpected, a flood of social media posts like these.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I vividly remember being on the phone with UnitedHealthcare for days and days, nine months pregnant, about to give birth alone.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was a terrible, stressful, mad scramble. We appealed, of course, to UnitedHealthcare and they denied the appeal within one day.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're wondering. I'm just saying, my thoughts and prayers are also denied. I don't give (bleep).

CARROLL (voice over): Thompson's death has not only opened the door for people to share their pain about how they say they were unfairly treated by UnitedHealthcare, it has also unleashed a torrent of vitriol against the entire healthcare industry.

Expos like these are some of the tamer versions of what's out there. "Today, we mourn the death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, gunned down. Wait, I'm sorry. Today, we mourn the deaths of the 68,000 Americans who needlessly die each year so that insurance company execs like Brian Thompson can become multimillionaires."

Then there's UnitedHealthcare Group's Facebook post about Thompson, who was a husband and father of two. It reads in part: "We are deeply saddened and shocked at the passing of our dear friend and colleague, Brian Thompson. Brian was a highly respected colleague and friend to all who worked with him." So far, that statement has received more than 90,000 laugh emojis.

No laughing matter to security experts like Phillip Klein.

PHILLIP KLEIN, PROTECTED UNITEDHEALTHCARE CEO, BRIAN THOMPSON: There is now a widow and two orphaned children out there, they don't have a father now, and we all need to remember that.

CARROLL (voice over): Klein provided security to Thompson in the early 2000, and he has grave concerns about what he is seeing now.

KLEIN: This has sent a ripple through the corporate executive world about security and the security of their employees. ERIN BRADSHAW, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, PATIENT ADVOCATE FOUNDATION: I am surprised of the backlash just because it's such a really sad situation that has occurred.

CARROLL (voice over): Erin Bradshaw had some insight into the current climate among patients and insurance carriers. She's an executive vice president at the Patient Advocate Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to improving healthcare access.

BRADSHAW: It's an exhausting process, you know. And on top of already being sick, injured or disabled, when they are running into a challenge with getting access to prescribed care through their insurer, it just -- it complicates it and it creates multiple layers of frustration.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Unfortunately, sympathy requires a prior authorization, and I have to deny that request.

CARROLL (voice over): As frustration simmer online with dark comments such as, "May the shooter never be found, my thoughts and deductibles go to the family."

A new Gallup poll found just 44 percent of adults say the quality of U.S. healthcare is excellent or good. The smallest share since Gallup's tracking started in 2001.

CARROLL (on camera): So some shocking comments there. Also, comments from people who are clearly frustrated. The security expert that you heard from in the piece just wanted to emphasize that much of this backlash, many of these comments are insensitive and downright irresponsible.

We did reach out to UnitedHealthcare to get more of their perspective on this particular issue, they did not get back to us, but CNN has learned that UnitedHealthcare has increased its security measures at facilities around the country.

Jason Carroll, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: Jason, thank you.

And joining us now to discuss further, CNN national security analyst, Juliette Kayyem and CNN media analyst, Sara Fischer.

Sara and Juliette, I know you both just listened to that piece. Sara, I want to start with you first.

[18:25:09]

Maybe I am naive, but this was kind of surprising to see how vast this vitriol is. This hurt. I mean, clearly, there are a lot of people really angry at the healthcare industry, but it is being aimed at this now dead CEO and it is really something to see play out. SARA FISCHER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA ANALYST: It is fascinating because if you were following the campaign, Jessica, this was not a huge issue. Healthcare wasn't the big issue of the 2024 campaign. However, if you take a look at the social media influencers that Donald Trump adopted when RFK dropped out and moved to him, you can start to see a pattern that was forming.

This frustration with the healthcare industry, it has been there. And what you're seeing now is that this was the catalyst for it to come out even further and even more publicly.

I think this is the start of a large conversation around the healthcare system. Now, what is unfortunate is that the killer seems to be getting celebrated online. I mean, that's not obviously the path we want to go down, but I think it is representative of a much larger issue in America that we all now have to face head on.

DEAN: Yes, and Juliette, a couple of things. One, we don't know the killers motivation yet. There are theories about that. We do know what was written down on those bullets about delay, depose. What I am thinking about, though, as Sara is talking to is the undercurrent though, of just Americans' deep frustration and feeling like they are not seen or heard by what they consider to be the establishment, the people in charge of things, that it is hard for them to live their life.

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: That is exactly right. So that sentiment, which is accurate and felt by many, anyone who has been involved with the healthcare insurance industry certainly has their frustrations, and some of them are even tragedies, has now been triggered and reflected in an assassin who has not been caught, continues to evade police and that is the NYPD, which a lot of -- an organization also that a lot of people have problems with.

So you have this sort of mythology being created by the very fact that he got away. He seems to come, you know, in from nowhere and leave without a trace and that is amplifying this sort of -- this ideology around him.

Look, we've seen this before. Ted Kaczynski had his followers, the anti-technology ones, but I think Sara is right that the anger towards the healthcare insurance industry has now found its focus and it is the death of a CEO and that is not great, even if the public policy challenge about how these insurance companies treat people is legitimately criticized.

DEAN: And Sara, you know, typically, we will see the internet just become sleuths. They will track people down, they'll figure out where they work. They can kind of do anything. And yet, we really haven't seen that happen this time.

FISCHER: That's right.

DEAN: Even though we have a very clear picture of the suspect.

FISCHER: Typically, if you go on TikTok during any sort of mass murder or unsolved mystery, you're going to have true crime believers trying -- leveraging their followers to figure it out. You're hearing influencers with millions of followers saying, we are not going to even look into this. We are not trying to help law enforcement solve this crime. We don't necessarily want this guy to get caught. We understand the power of our followings, and were going to leverage that to make a message around what is happening here.

It is fascinating, though, Jessica, because in the era of social media and in the era of ubiquitous smartphones, its actually critical that the everyday person is helping to report a missing person, is helping to ensure that the police can get this done. You're not seeing that at all and I think the message from these influencers is to their followers, don't help out the police. I mean, that's a problem.

DEAN: What do you make of that, Juliette? Yes. Go ahead.

KAYYEM: No, I just wanted to pick up on what Sara said, because, you know, from the media and social media side and the safety and security side, this goes to an element of how this assassin and the killer was able to evade capture. He seemed to understand the surveillance state. He seemed to understand where cameras are, where noise was picked up, how to evade with credit cards -- with cash only busses where you don't need IDs, an e-bike, which is, you know, faster than a car, but, you know, it is hard to stop them if he was in a chase.

He understood the city, right? And he understood a city that had cameras everywhere. And even with the picture of his face, which he seems to understand that he wants to sort of cover the chin, even when he takes his mask off from -- for our knowledge, there has been no match yet and that is remarkable and suggests his sophistication.

DEAN: Yes, no doubt about it.

All right, Juliette Kayyem and Sara Fischer, thank you to both of you.

FISCHER: Thank you.

KAYYEM: Thank you.

[18:30:10]

DEAN: President-elect Trump still weeks away from taking office, but that's not stopping him from making his presence felt on the world stage as he prepares to wade into several critical international conflicts. More on this here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:34:45]

DEAN: President-elect Trump back on the world stage, making his first overseas trip since winning the election. Trump once again reuniting with the presidents of France and Ukraine in a meeting ahead of a ceremony for the reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral. He also got a chance to meet with Prince William at the U.K. ambassador's residence in Paris, calling him a, quote, "good man," and praising his, quote, "nice grip" after shaking hands.

[18:35:07]

CNN's Alayna Treene is live with more details now.

And Alayna, I know your reporting is that Trump was quite keen on being there for this event. He also received quite a welcome. What more can you tell us?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: He did. It was a lot of pageantry, a lot of pomp around that, you know, arrival today when he went to the Elysee Palace to meet with President Macron and then later with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. You had, you know, all of the flags out there, all of the cameras. They had that warm, they shared that warm hug and handshake. It was kind of reminiscent of when they would meet in Donald Trump's first term and everyone had described it as somewhat of a bromance, their relationship before things kind of became tense throughout the years.

But, look, this was the type of welcome that Donald Trump wanted, and it's what I've been hearing from my conversations with those working on the transition and those working on Trump's team since then. That this is, you know, what Donald Trump wanted for his return to the world stage.

I think one key question, though, of course, is what is his relationship with many of these leaders going to look like moving forward? As you mentioned, he is still President-elect. He is not the president. He has another month or so until he is sworn in to office. But, really, this was kind of a taste of what maybe we will begin to see over the next four years.

And I remind you as well that Donald Trump loves to meet face-to-face with world leaders. He actually doesn't love traveling on foreign trips. At least that was the case, I remember, when I covered his first White House, his first term in that administration.

But he does like to meet in person. He likes to, you know, play off each other. He likes to have negotiations in person. He often says he goes with his gut. I think that's a lot of kind of what we saw with these different meetings today. But one key question, of course, that I know a lot of people are asking is what is his foreign policy going to look like moving forward.

And I think that was, of course, a key conversation that came up in his meetings with Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Macron, especially as it relates to what he's going to do about U.S. aid to Ukraine amid the ongoing war with Russia. But also, you know, any ideas for his promises, what he made repeatedly throughout his time on the campaign trail, to end that war very swiftly.

We haven't really heard much from Donald Trump about what that would look like, how he could do that, so curious to see whether or not that came up today. I am told that we're going to get some sort of broader readout from that meeting between him, Macron and Zelenskyy. So I'm going to - you know, I think a lot of eyes will be on what exactly he revealed during that. But again, he's still President- elect, so only so much he can say and promise at this point.

DEAN: All right. Alayna Treene with the latest reporting, thank you very much.

Still ahead, why the far-right QAnon community is excited about President-elect Trump's choice to lead the FBI and how he could lead the agency. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:42:31]

DEAN: QAnon followers are reacting with glee to President-elect Trump's pick of Kash Patel as the next FBI director, in part because of a years-old clue from so-called Q. CNN's Donie O'Sullivan takes us inside one of the epicenters of deep-state conspiracies.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: We are here in beautiful, sunny Florida, right by Mar-a-Lago. We're on our way to meet a QAnon influencer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What you know you can't explain.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'SULLIVAN: For years, Jeffrey Pedersen, a former IT guy, has been running the Matrix Groove show.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFFREY PEDERSEN, HOST, "THE MG SHOW": Welcome back to the MG Show, where the truth is learned, it's never told.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'SULLIVAN: It's a show devoted to all things QAnon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PEDERSEN: If you think QAnon is bad, you're believing the mainstream news.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'SULLIVAN: Deciphering the cryptic codes from Q and trying to figure out the deep state and the cabal and everything else.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PEDERSEN: This is Q Post 1828. This is the "spy op."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'SULLIVAN: And the reason we're here is because he has had as a guest on his show, Kash Patel, who might become the next FBI director.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PEDERSEN: Kash is on the show today. Let's bring him in right now.

KASH PATEL, TRUMP'S PICK AS FBI DIRECTOR: You guys are the best. I love being on your program.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'SULLIVAN: Patel has dipped his toe into this QAnon world a bit over the years, has flirted with it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PATEL: On Truth Social, there's a Q account, whether or not it's the real Q, I'm not going to get into.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you a QAnoner?

PATEL: So - like, so - no. So, like everything else, you have to have fun with it. The Q thing is a movement. A lot of people attach themselves to it. I disagree with a lot of what that movement says, but I agree with what a lot of that movement says.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'SULLIVAN (voice over): The QAnon movement has long been associated with radicalization and hate. And QAnon iconography was seen throughout the January 6th mob.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PEDERSEN: Is that Donnie O'Sullivan?

O'SULLIVAN: Yes, pleasure.

Q has posted how many times?

PEDERSEN: Four-thousand nine-hundred and sixty-seven times.

O'SULLIVAN: Q posted about Kash Patel?

PEDERSEN: Yes, twice.

O'SULLIVAN: And says?

PEDERSEN: Kashyap Patel, a name to remember.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Q has been so right on so many things. I'll get off that subject. PATEL: No, he has. And I'll - and I agree with you. He has. He has. And you got to take - you got to harness that following that Q has garnered, and just sort of tweak it a little bit. That's all I'm saying. He should get credit for all the things he has accomplished because it's hard to establish a movement.

O'SULLIVAN: Who is Q?

PEDERSEN: I don't know. Q says it's 10 people, three non-military, less than 10. We don't know. I see people trying to say that Kash is Q. You can't prove that. I can't prove that.

[18:45:03]

O'SULLIVAN: For a lot of people, Kash Patel engaging in the world of Q and QAnon at all, they'll say, well, that's disqualifying.

PEDERSEN: But what you're going to find out is that we have a mandate in America, and we want the FBI cleaned. You know, 99 percent of the FBI is good. You know, but there's a 1 percent that is not good.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'SULLIVAN (voice over): The anonymous Q persona hasn't posted in a few years, but the world of QAnon is still very real for people like Jeffrey.

PEDERSEN: News unlocks what the Q posts are. Like, you know, like, for example, Kashyap Patel, a name to remember. Kashyap Patel has just been nominated as the FBI director. Right? That's a Q proof, what we call.

O'SULLIVAN: Couldn't I just say, well, Q has posted 5,000 times. He just posted a name. Like ...

PEDERSEN: Yes, you can absolutely say that. And - but what about all the other names?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'SULLIVAN (voice over): In our interview, Jeffrey made it very clear that he condemns violence, he's not a fan of the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, or other groups that conspired to cause violence on January 6th.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PEDERSEN: I always say, you know, we're not going to make fun of liberals, because we're going to be here for them when they wake up.

O'SULLIVAN: But there is a lot of portrayal of Democrats, of people on the left, of being evil.

PEDERSEN: Yes.

O'SULLIVAN: Do you think they're evil? PEDERSEN: Not all of them, no. Do I think there are some? Yes. Like Hillary Clinton, maybe? I don't know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'SULLIVAN (voice over): As for Kash Patel, Jeffrey and other QAnon influencers welcome him as the country's top law enforcement officer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PEDERSEN: I think the American people will be happy that Kash Patel is going to straighten out what they've done to President Donald J. Trump and the FBI. And I think America should be happy as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'SULLIVAN (on camera): And Jess, a spokesperson for the Trump transition team described our story as a pathetic attempt at guilt by association and dismissed any links between Kash Patel and QAnon. Jess?

DEAN: Donie O'Sullivan, great reporting. Thank you.

Still to come, a California community is working to heal after a school shooting in Northern California left two young children badly injured. What we learned about the gunman and a possible motive. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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[18:51:45]

DEAN: A town in Northern California is rallying behind two kindergarten boys shot while they were at school this week. The town held a vigil last night for the boys who are both now in the hospital in critical condition. CNN's Camila Bernal joins us.

What more can you tell us about this awful story, Camila?

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Jess.

Yes, a really emotional weekend in Oroville and in Butte County as this community came together. You saw the images there. People were crying. They were hugging each other. They were praying together and, of course, praying for the two boys, but also praying for everyone impacted by this, which is really a lot of people in this community.

We're talking about a church, a school, the teachers, the students, the parents, everyone really just reeling after all of this and in shock after what happened at the school. And the aunt of one of the survivors, but one of the victims in this shooting, saying that they very much still need those prayers and saying that her nephew, five- year-old Elias Wolford, just in need of those prayers, but also saying that his life has completely changed, that his childhood was essentially robbed from him. Take a listen to what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TAWNEE PREISNER, NEPHEW WOUNDED IN SCHOOL SHOOTING: He did wake up a little bit and was able to communicate with his dad. And he was making the sign of, like, a gun and trying to tap his dad's arm, like, I got shot. So it's just really, really devastating for kids to go through this. It's a wonder he's alive, and it's a miracle.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERNAL: You know, a five-year-old should not have to go through that. That five-year-old is in stable but critical condition, as is the other victim, six-year-old Roman Mendez.

And the sheriff there saying that both of these boys have a long road to recovery, saying they need a number of surgeries, so really a very difficult time for these two families. On the other hand, we do know that the shooter was found dead at the scene at this - from an apparent gunshot wound. And the FBI is now investigating.

Authority is trying to figure out why he specifically targeted this Christian school. They're trying to piece together exactly what happened. We were also told that as they investigated, they found that the shooter was homeless, was a convicted felon, had a long criminal history and also had records of mental health illnesses.

We also know that the shooter went to the school saying that he wanted to enroll a family member in that school. Authorities later saying that they believe that that was a lie and really just a way to gain access to the school.

He began shooting as the children were on their noon break. They were coming back into the classrooms, and that's when he began shooting. Unfortunately, authorities got there just two minutes, which is actually a good thing, but unfortunately these two children were already shot and in critical condition. Authorities, of course, immediately tried to help these two boys and got all of the other students into buses and brought them to a nearby church to be reunited with those parents. That was, of course, very traumatic for all of these people.

Unfortunately, Jess, this is not uncommon. It is now about 78 school shootings this year in the U.S., and this is just another one.

DEAN: That's right, and those two little kindergarten boys have to pay the price.

[18:55:01]

Hopefully they are recovered very soon. Camila Bernal, thank you for that reporting.

BERNAL: Thank you.

DEAN: We appreciate it. New York police are bringing out their divers as they search a lake in Central Park for the weapon used to shoot and kill a health insurance CEO on the streets of Manhattan. The latest on that search, still ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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[18:59:58]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.

DEAN: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jessica Dean.