Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
NYPD Thinks CEO Shooting Suspect No Longer in New York; South Korean Parliament Voting on Yoon Impeachment; The Renaissance of Notre-Dame Cathedral; Anger Boils Over Online after CEO's Murder; CNN Crew Arrives in Syria as Rebels Seize Third City; Sports Highlights. Aired 5-6a ET
Aired December 07, 2024 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
ANNA COREN, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Hello and welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Anna Coren.
Ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, the search is expanding for the suspect in the shooting of an insurance CEO. We'll tell you what evidence New York authorities have so far.
More chaos in South Korea as the president's future is on the line.
And U.S. president-elect Trump in Paris for the reopening of Notre- Dame. We will take a look at the renovations and who's on the guest list for today's special event.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from Hong Kong, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Anna Coren.
COREN: Well, the FBI is putting a new reward on the table as investigators search for the gunman who murdered UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Midtown New York on Wednesday. The bureau is now offering up to $50,000 for any information that would lead to an arrest and conviction.
The announcement comes as police appear to be getting close to identifying the suspect. On Friday, a law enforcement official said police found the backpack they think the gunman wore during the shooting. It's now at a forensic lab where it's being analyzed for more evidence.
Investigators have also said they're looking at the possibility the gunman used a so-called veterinary gun to kill Thompson. The weapon is used to put down animals and it creates less noise than many other firearms.
Well, the suspect apparently went a long way to cover his tracks. But investigators still have a huge amount of evidence to work with. Well, that's from New York's police commissioner, who spoke with CNN on Friday. As Omar Jimenez reports, the manhunt is now expanding outside of the city.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JESSICA TISCH, NEW YORK CITY POLICE COMMISSIONER: We have a pretty good sense of where he has been in New York City and we also now have reason to believe that he is outside of New York City.
OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tonight, the top brass of the largest police department in the country are telling CNN the person they've been hunting for around the clock for days could be anywhere.
CHIEF DETECTIVE JOSEPH KENNY, NEW YORK POLICE DEPARTMENT: We have numerous assets from numerous, numerous different units from within the detective bureau and the department itself that are working on this. So it's all hands on deck right now. Could it lead us out of state?
Absolutely.
JIMENEZ: The NYPD says they believe the gunman who shot and killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, outside of his midtown hotel Wednesday morning, may have left the city on a bus, miles north of the shooting site.
KENNY: We have video of him entering the Port Authority bus terminal. We don't have any video of him exiting.
JIMENEZ: And they don't know which bus or where it was heading or when. They still don't even have his name.
MARY ELLEN O'TOOLE, FORMER SENIOR FBI PROFILER: I think the bus is important because there's less scrutiny when one takes a bus.
And I think he felt at least felt or believed that he could blend in better and would not be necessarily somebody that would come to the attention of authorities like he would if he took a plane or even Amtrak. So I think it was a strategic decision.
JIMENEZ: And while how he escaped the city remains a mystery. His journey into it is coming slightly more into focus. Officials believe he arrived by bus on November 24th, around 9:00 pm The bus initially departed from Atlanta and may have made as many as 13 stops along the way but it's unclear where he actually boarded.
TISCH: We're getting leads into our tip line and we chase every lead that we get.
KENNY: We could have detectives sit in front of a -- you know, a monitor looking at video for eight hours to come up with an eight second clip.
JIMENEZ: Police also today sent a water bottle and a cell phone found at the scene to the chief medical examiners office, hoping for a DNA hit. One crucial detail authorities do have these pictures of the suspect unmasked in the hostel he had checked into days before the shooting, using a fake ID and cash.
TISCH: He's been traveling and walking around the streets of New York City, largely in a mask with his face covered. We had to go through lots of video evidence to get that one money shot of him with the mask down.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): Omar Jimenez, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: But the suspect is still on the loose despite all the videos that captured him and the money shot the commissioner mentioned. And one expert says the suspect apparently knew how to evade the city's surveillance system.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: The last couple of days we've been talking about what the police are doing. And it sort of struck me we should be also talking about what he did to make this manhunt now enter day four, essentially.
[05:05:02]
And so it appears that he understood the surveillance state that is New York City, right?
The cameras, the exposure, the density of a city like this. And he was able to work around it, divert it, sort of remain underneath the radar, knowing very well that what he was about to do that, that we basically had a filmed assassination.
So beforehand, how he gets here, the bus, the hostel -- he pays in cash. Even when he takes off his mask, he, at the hostel, he does so in a way in which they can't really capture the facial recognition in a way that, if you and I took off a mask or a hood, we wouldn't be cognizant of it.
And his exit, this is -- we've done a lot of this before. They don't normally plan out the exit this well. He leaves through Central Park. He takes a bike, a taxi, then a bus to get out of the city without a trace, without getting caught.
And that's why I think he's getting this mythic, horrible -- I'm not defending it but this sort of this mythic aura around him. He's taking on the NYPD, he's taking on health care insurance. He's successful at evading the surveillance state so far, right?
I mean and maybe they're homing in on him. But it's -- it is kind of remarkable that we're still talking about this manhunt, given how public this has been.
But one of the things that's slowing this process down is because it's so public. The system is somewhat overwhelmed. People are calling in hints. They have this lead. They think they know the guy, whatever. And in some ways, he's benefiting from that as well, right?
In other words, this sort of perverse, see something, say something, that the NYPD and the FBI have to look at every clue. It's going to distract them from maybe real clues. And so it's just the system is overwhelmed because of the surveillance and also because of the speed that that information is coming in because there are so many photos.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COREN: The U.S. president-elect says he has confidence in his embattled choice for Secretary of Defense.
Trump is now defending Pete Hegseth in his first network television interview since winning the election. He expressed optimism over Hegseth's confirmation chances, even though he faces allegations related to sexual misconduct and drinking.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: It looks like Pete is doing well now. I mean, people were a little bit concerned. He's a young guy with a tremendous track record, actually. He went to Princeton and went to Harvard. He was a good student at both but he loves the military.
And I think people are starting to see it. So we'll be working on his nomination, along with a lot of others.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COREN: Well, Trump's pick to lead the Pentagon is beginning to undergo an intensive FBI background check process. The federal agency is set to conduct detailed checks on thousands of Trump appointees, in fact. But a nominee simply doesn't pass a background check; instead, their files are sent to the White House for a final decision.
Well, more now on the breaking news coming out of South Korea. It appears that President Yoon Suk-yeol will survive an impeachment vote after lawmakers from his party walked out of the national assembly before the vote.
Opposition lawmakers went ahead with the vote anyway. Yoon addressed the nation a few hours ago, apologizing for this week's short-lived attempt at martial law and vowed to accept the consequences.
Well, our Ivan Watson is live for us in Seoul.
So the president says he'll accept the consequences. And yet his party walks out of the national assembly. I'm sure many people are interpreting this as pretty gutless.
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, yes. And there's clearly a partisan divide over whether or not to vote to impeach President Yoon just days after he tried to impose martial law on the country. So we've had dramatic scenes here in the parliament because, from
where I'm standing, if you just look behind those doors over there, that is where lawmakers have gathered in the main chambers to hold this impeachment vote. It requires more than two thirds of the legislators -- it's a 300 person body -- to pass the impeachment.
The opposition control 192 seats. The magic number is eight. That's how many members of the president's party, the People Power Party, would have to break with their party leadership, who have said they do not support impeachment, for the impeachment vote to go through.
And several hours ago, most of the president's lawmakers walked out of the legislative chambers. And the scene out here, there are a lot of people here and they are clearly not all journalists. Many of them are holding signs that accuse the president of insurrection.
[05:10:00]
And they have been chanting, you know, "Cowards and traitors" and "Go back inside" to the legislative chambers. So that's kind of some of the scene of what we've seen taking place right here.
President Yoon this morning broke his silence some four days after he made this short attempt at martial law. He apologized for what he had done and he basically said he was going to submit to his own party to determine how the government would move forward. His party leadership have said that there's no way he'll finish his term in office.
So they seem to be open to him resigning. But they have voiced opposition to impeachment. They're trying to thread this needle to avoid impeachment right now and seem to be lining up behind their president to avoid his impeachment.
But basically, it is a political crisis. If you go out into the streets of Seoul, beyond these windows over here, in front of the national assembly, there are police estimates that tens of thousands of demonstrators have gathered, some who support the Conservative Party, many who are calling for impeachment.
And the vow that we're hearing from the opposition is that, if this impeachment does in fact fail today -- and it looks likely -- they will hold more impeachment votes in the future, possibly as early as Wednesday of next week.
And when you have a president who is as unpopular as the polls say he is right now, where a recent poll showed more than 70 percent of Koreans surveyed support impeachment, it will put a lot of pressure on lawmakers to eventually cast their ballots in favor of this.
And there's an interesting scene that we've seen play out here. A handful of lawmakers from the president's party have gone back into the chambers, perhaps two or three or lawmakers.
And everyone who goes back in, the crowd here erupts into cheers and happiness, because all it would take is eight for the president to be impeached tonight -- Anna. COREN: Yes, Ivan. It will be interesting to see how this all plays
out on the streets because you'd have to assume that people who wanted to see the president impeached, they are not going to be happy with what has transpired at the national assembly. Ivan Watson, great to see you. Thank you for keeping us abreast of all things in Seoul.
A raging fire gutted Notre-Dame five years ago. And now, in a few hours, Paris will unveil the beautiful, bright and newly renovated historic cathedral. A live report from Paris in just a few moments.
Plus, the man suspected of gunning down a health insurance executive in New York is still on the run, despite these images seen around the world. We'll look at why investigators are still searching for him for days after the crime.
And later, Syrian rebels are closing in on the country's capital, vowing to overthrow the government once they get there.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:15:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
COREN: The grand reopening of the historic Notre-Dame Cathedral is just hours away and Paris is ready to celebrate after that devastating fire back in 2019. About 50 world leaders and high-profile guests are set to attend, including U.S. first lady Jill Biden and president- elect Donald Trump.
Well, Notre-Dame's interior is now gleaming, almost like new. Workers using medieval techniques rebuilt the church at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars, raised largely through donations. About 2,000 people are expected at the ceremony, with 40,000 others watching on big screens outside.
Well, CNN's Melissa Bell is live for us in Paris.
Melissa, of course, you were there on the day of the fire.
How does it feel, you know, five years later for the official reopening?
MELISSA BELL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, listen, I had the very good fortune of seeing it for myself last week.
I was one of the journalists who was able to go inside when Emmanuel Macron, the French president, went for that last construction site visit just ahead of this grand opening.
And it is magnificent. Today, the whole world will discover it. We have, of course, this grand opening ceremony today with those many dozen heads of state. Prince William will be in town, we understand, from Kensington Palace. He'll be meeting Dr. Jill Biden but also president-elect Donald Trump.
Donald Trump will also meet with Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace, as will president Volodymyr Zelenskyy. So many of these leaders in town.
Those bilateral visits, of course, will get an awful lot of attention ahead of their -- we don't know, for the time being, whether President Zelenskyy will have a chance to meet president-elect Donald Trump. But the fact that both men will be in town clearly a great deal of interest in that.
After that, the ceremony itself. We understand it's going to be pretty spectacular. There will be a grand concert, of course, and tomorrow the first mass.
Now what the archbishop of Paris says is that, in fact, there will be six months of opening celebrations, with three masses a day for any of the faithful who wish to come and worship inside Notre-Dame for the first time in five years.
But clearly a very emotional moment for Paris, for the world, as we discover the inside of Notre-Dame, restored really after five years of a great deal of work; $700 million, more than $700 million have gone into its restoration.
And as I say, it really is worth a visit to come and rediscover a cathedral that is even more spectacular now inside than it was before -- Anna.
COREN: I think we're all booking our ticket, Melissa. You have to host us all.
But look, obviously today's day is Notre-Dame. But I think president- elect Donald Trump, he will also be grabbing the headlines. And, as you say, he will meet with Emmanuel Macron as well as President Zelenskyy from Ukraine.
But he was very keen to attend today. He'd been watching on Air Force One as the fire was happening in real time. I guess explain the importance of this trip for Trump.
BELL: That's right.
[05:20:00]
It was five years ago. He was in power at the time. He offered to send special planes to help put out the fire. All of these invitations were extended. Clearly that he's accepted means that president-elect Donald Trump will be carrying out his first foreign trip since winning the November poll here to Paris.
And we know, of course, the special relationship that Emmanuel Macron had managed to build with the president in -- during his first term. Many of the European leaders had struggled with what kind of approach to take. The French president seemed to have found the key to a more cordial, sort of almost chummy relationship. Remember we spoke of a bromance at the time. So for Emmanuel Macron,
this is, of course, all very important. This is a French president, remember, who is undergoing a great deal of difficulty domestically. The political French landscape is fairly chaotic. His ratings are at all time low here in France.
This gives him a real opportunity to shine on the world stage, where, frankly, he's always done best. And so this reunion with president- elect Donald Trump, very important.
Remember that he had congratulated him even before the official results were in, becoming one of the first global leaders to congratulate him on his victory, even as the votes were being counted very early on that Wednesday morning. For him, this is an opportunity to remind the world of that bromance and to try and renew it -- Anna.
COREN: Melissa Bell in Paris, good to see you. Thank you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: Well, Tomas Van Houtryve is a photographer and visual artist who had access to photograph the cathedral work site for four years. Thomas is also the author of a new book, "36 of Notre-Dame." He joins us from Paris.
Thomas, thank you for being here.
Tell us, how are you feeling about today, considering the journey that you have witnessed over the years?
TOMAS VAN HOUTRYVE, BELGIAN VISUAL ARTIST BASED IN PARIS: Well, this is amazing. I think everybody remembers where they were the night of the fire. At least Parisians did.
And I remember first stepping into the cathedral in November 2020 and seeing this horrible gash in the center of the crossing of the cathedral, where the spire had collapsed through and hit the altar.
And when I saw that, I never could have imagined that 4.5-5 years later, it would be completely rebuilt. So this kind of shows the best that France can do when people work together and they pull together their artisanal knowhow and their modern technology.
And I'm just very happy to see this moment of hope.
COREN: Thanks to the help of all those donations that they received also from around the world. Tomas, I mean, explain to us what has gone into the remaking, if you like, of Notre-Dame, this reconstruction effort.
And I guess, what surprised you the most when you saw the finished product?
VAN HOUTRYVE: Well, first of all, you have to imagine: not only did they have to do a reconstruction, they had to do a full decontamination of the cathedral. So the roof was covered with lead paneling dating back to the medieval
days. And that all burned during the fire. And it just left contaminated lead particles everywhere. So they had to go through and completely clean it out before they could start rebuilding.
Another surprising thing was to see the trees. So there were oak trees that had been planted since the time of the French monarchy, before the French Revolution, that were still growing. And they'd actually been planted originally as ship masts.
Well, they're mature. They were ready for harvest. And so they were able to cut those down, hundreds and hundreds of trees, to rebuild the framework, the rafters of the roof.
And then there's the magnificent spire itself. That was actually a spire that had been installed in the 19th century. And they used a lot of old techniques throughout the reconstruction.
In fact, I remember the day seeing wooden beams being taken by barge down the Seine River through the center of Paris and then craned up into the worksite.
It was just amazing to see so many, you know, journeymen carpenters, wood carvers, stonemasons, people that have somehow kept this artisanal knowledge over the generations and they're able to apply it to sort of the work site of the century and inspire new people to take on these jobs.
COREN: Yes, Thomas, we've been looking at your black and white images on the screen whilst you were talking. Explain to us what it was like to be inside that cathedral and to see all the damage and ruin around you.
VAN HOUTRYVE: Well, when you walk into a Gothic cathedral, you know, you can feel -- I feel something when I walk in. These soaring arches, the high vaulted ceilings. The first time I walked in after the fire, I got all of those feelings.
And then you look up and you see this gash in the roof, burnt timbers. There was still the smell of a fire and sort of fallen debris everywhere. So it was a very mixed feeling to see the great beauty of this architectural masterpiece, mixed with this sheer destruction.
[05:25:02]
And I really just tried to channel that into my photography. There were not many people that were let inside to witness and record what was happening. So I just sort of tried to channel my emotions into my photographs, try to be inspired by the beauty and by the destruction of this place and then share it with other people through my images.
COREN: And how do you feel about today, the fact that it will be reopened officially and the public can return?
VAN HOUTRYVE: I mean this is really -- it's really a beautiful thing. If you think back, the original construction took over 180 years. So the people who first dreamed it up and laid the first stone, they could never see it finished.
So what's really remarkable to me is that, in my lifetime, I could see it in a state of utter destruction and, just a few years later, see it reborn. So it's just lovely to see Notre-Dame is back. We cherish it. It's a monument that is cared about by Parisians but I think also many more people around the world.
COREN: Absolutely. She is loved, certainly around the world. Tomas van Houtryve joining us from Paris, thank you so much for sharing your insights.
VAN HOUTRYVE: Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: Well, coming up here on CNN NEWSROOM, the killing of a health insurance CEO in New York has led to a flood of anger online, not only at the perpetrator but at the health industry, even executives like Brian Thompson. We'll explain.
And South Korea's president is likely to survive an impeachment vote happening this hour.
So what happens next?
We'll ask an expert live in Seoul.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:30:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
COREN: Welcome back.
Let's get you up to speed with the manhunt for the suspected gunman who killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a New York hotel on Wednesday.
Police say facial recognition technology has so far failed to identify him, even though investigators have this image of his face. There's also no indication he had any personal interaction with Thompson.
The top police leaders in New York told CNN, it's clear that this brazen killing and the gunman's getaway were thought out well in advance.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KENNY: My sense of this is that he definitely planned this out. He arrived in New York City, obviously, before the incident took place. We have him on video prior to the incident for almost a half an hour, walking and wandering around the hotel area before he committed this act. So, you know, do I think it was planned?
Yes, I do, just in the mere fact that he knew what time the victim was going to be walking by. He knew what hotel this conference was going to be in.
TISCH: And he's been traveling and walking around the streets of New York City, largely in a mask with his face covered. We had to go through lots of video evidence to get that one money shot of him with the mask down.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COREN: The FBI is now offering up to $50,000 in reward money as police say the suspect has likely left New York. Well, guards at the borders with Canada and Mexico have been told to be on the lookout for him.
There's been a torrent of online reaction after Thompson was gunned down and much of it lacks any sympathy for him or his industry. Jason Carroll has the story.
(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 were wondering -- I'm just saying my thoughts and prayers were also denied. I don't give (INAUDIBLE).
CARROLL: 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 is also unleashed a torrent of vitriol against the entire health care industry. X posts like this 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 posts 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 Philip Klein.
PHILIP KLEIN, PROTECTED UNITED HEALTHCARE CEO BRIAN THOMPSON: There's now a widow and two orphaned children out there. They don't have a father now and we all need to remember that.
CARROLL: Klein provided security to Thompson in the early 2000 and he has grave concerns about what he's 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: Erin Bradshaw has 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 health care 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 creates multiple layers of frustration.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Unfortunately, sympathy requires a prior authorization and I have to deny that request.
CARROLL: As frustrations 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. health care is excellent or good, the smallest share since Gallup's tracking started in 2001.
So some shocking comments there, also comments from people who are clearly frustrated.
[05:35:00]
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)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
COREN: An update now on the breaking news happening in South Korea. It appears that President Yoon Suk-yeol will survive an impeachment effort after lawmakers from his party walked out of the national assembly before the vote.
But opposition lawmakers went ahead with the ballot anyway. A few hours ago, Yoon apologized for this week's short-lived attempt at martial law and vowed to accept the consequences.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: Well, Duyeon Kim is an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security. She joins us live from Seoul.
Duyeon, good to see you. I want to get your thoughts on lawmakers walking out of the national assembly and I guess where that leaves this impeachment vote.
DUYEON KIM, CENTER FOR A NEW AMERICAN SECURITY: Yes.
Thanks for having me back. So the ruling party lawmakers, they boycotted the vote because, you know the national assembly needs at least 200 votes in favor to pass an impeachment motion. And so ruling party lawmakers do not want that motion to pass. And so that's why they left the national assembly.
And so now the question is, what happens next?
The chances are very high that the motion will not pass. And so the next move that we can expect from the opposition party is to continue to submit more motions for impeachment, which they have officially declared that they will do and will be their plan.
COREN: Duyeon, they don't want the motion to pass. And yet the leader of the PPP came out yesterday and said that the president has to be suspended.
So why are they dragging this out?
KIM: Yes. So the ruling party wants to buy time because, frankly, they're not ready to hold a snap presidential election. They do not have a clear presidential candidate for their party to do so.
They're also going to want to buy time because the leader of the opposition party is facing many charges, indictments and especially four different trials. He's on trial in four different cases right now.
And so they're going to want to hope that the legislative, the legal process plays out so that he is found guilty on some key charges and so that he is disqualified from becoming a presidential candidate.
Because currently, the mood here in South Korea is that, if South Korea had a snap election, that the opposition leader would actually win that election. And so the ruling party right now, they're trying to figure out the right formula to, first, buy time to block impeachment.
Because if President Yoon is impeached, the party is worried that the entire administration will essentially be frozen and that the government will not be able to function because they're expecting a series of investigations and probes that will happen if the president is impeached.
COREN: But Duyeon, by buying time, aren't they angering the public?
I mean, there are tens of thousands of people out there on the streets of Seoul tonight, who will be furious that this impeachment vote, you know, didn't get rid of the president. The fact that his own party is protecting him, it will only anger them more.
KIM: Well, absolutely. Public sentiment is a huge factor here.
But the ruling party has also been on the record that they want him to step down, that they want his presidential powers to be stripped. Now, how, what that looks like and how they do that, that seems to be what they're trying to figure out.
Again, you know, the right formula for having him stripped of his presidential powers, because there is clear agreement between both ruling and opposition parties that President Yoon should no longer be president.
(CROSSTALK)
KIM: But, of course, now again, the question is what is the format?
COREN: What's the next?
I mean, his approval rating's 13 percent. A recent poll found 70 percent of South Koreans think he should be impeached. You've got these rolling strikes happening across South Korea until he is impeached. And yet he apologized today but refused to resign. His position is untenable.
KIM: Well, you know, I think he has no other choice but to step down. And again, I think that's the, you know, again, the formula.
What does that -- what does that look like?
[05:40:00]
What does that mean?
And that's something that the ruling party is trying to figure out. And it seems there's 100 percent consensus in South Korea, both ruling and opposition parties, that he should not remain as president.
Now if, you know, if the opposition party, you know, in a scenario where, if an impeachment motion does pass, it's still a tricky process going forward, too, because then it gets handed over to the constitutional court, which currently is not functioning properly because they don't have a full bench.
And so they'll have to fill up vacancies in the constitutional court. And then they'll have to rule within six months. And then there will have to be a snap election within 60 days. And so again, there are a lot of moving parts here.
Both ruling and opposition parties are playing a very fierce political battle right now because it really is a game of survival, political survival for the parties and survival and the battle for power, to see which party gets to govern the country in the next coming years.
COREN: It looks like it's going to be days, weeks, if not months of political turmoil ahead for South Korea. Duyeon Kim, joining us from Seoul, we really appreciate your analysis. Thank you so much.
KIM: Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: Well, the Syrian military is now fighting rebel forces on two fronts. Still to come, a new group of fighters are emerging in the south, taking over another city.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
COREN: Syrian rebels now claim they've captured a third city as Bashar al-Assad's regime struggles to maintain control.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COREN (voice-over): A new video shows people pulling down the statue of former Syrian president Hafez al-Assad in Daraa, where the rebellion was born in 2011.
Rebel forces say they've taken over the city while opening a new southern front. Syria's defense ministry has not confirmed if they've lost control of the city.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[05:45:00]
COREN: CNN's Ben Wedeman has more on where the rebels are headed next.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: After the opposition took Aleppo, took Hama, they do appear to be on the outskirts of Homs as well, the last city before the capital, Damascus, on the M5 highway that links Aleppo with the Syrian capital.
Now what we're seeing now is that there are signs of unrest in Daraa province, which is in the south, where we see that the rebels in that area seem to have taken over the Nassib crossing to Jordan, border crossing to Jordan, where there's now a new group that's announced its existence, the Southern Operations Room. And they say that their goal is to reach Damascus, keeping in mind, of course, it was in that southern province where the Syrian uprising began back in 2011.
Now we're also hearing from what's known as the Military Operations Command, which is the coalition of rebel groups that started in Idlib and is the one that has taken Aleppo, Hama; is now on the outskirts of Homs.
They have called on the Syrian army to pull out of Homs, out of Damascus and out of Syria altogether, according to the spokesman for the group.
Now we are seeing that the Syrian air force continues to launch air strikes on not only rebel positions but civilian facilities as well in those areas where the government has lost control.
But in terms of actual fighting on the ground, they're pulling up relatively little resistance. And of course, yesterday, we heard the Russians via spokesman for the Kremlin, Dmitry Peskov, saying, basically, we're going to be watching the situation in Syria to decide how we're going to assist Syria.
But certainly, at this point, after the dramatic events of the last week, it's questionable if there is even time left, the ability left, to save this collapsing regime.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: Ben Wedeman reporting there.
Well, Israeli president Isaac Herzog called tech billionaire Elon Musk in the last few days to discuss a revival of talks to secure the release of hostages held in Gaza. That's according to a source close to the president.
The source told CNN President Herzog made the call at the request of family members of hostages. They are reportedly hoping Musk will be able to apply pressure on all parties to secure a deal.
Another source familiar with the conversations tells CNN, quote, "There was a chat between the president and a few hostage families, where one of the subjects discussed was influence on Donald Trump. And Elon Musk's name came up as someone of influence on Trump. Therefore, keeping an open channel with him is important."
Watchdogs groups and victims say government special forces in the Republic of Georgia have been attacking protesters.
Well, demonstrations against the governing Georgia Dream parties have continued into a second week. It had suspended talks over joining the European Union. The watchdog organizations say many people have been subjected to brutal treatment.
CNN spoke to 10 protesters, including five journalists and one opposition politician. They say they were beaten by masked men and suffered injuries, from cuts and bruises to broken bones requiring hospitalization.
Well, despite the brutal response, many say they will protest for as long as it takes rather than go backwards to one-party anti-E.U. rule.
Stay with CNN. We'll be right back.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:50:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
COREN: Welcome back.
Well, the field for the college football playoff in the United States will be set by the end of the weekend. Boise State University is all but assured to clinch a spot in the bracket and a chance at the national championship after winning the Mountain West Conference Friday night.
To explain everything at stake this Saturday, here's CNN's sports anchor Andy Scholes.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORT CORRESPONDENT: Well, by the end of today, we should have a good idea who is going to be in the first-ever 12 team college football playoff.
All of the conference championship games today have playoff implications. For some teams, it's win and get in. For others, like at the SEC title game behind me here in Atlanta, Georgia, at Mercedes- Benz Stadium, a first round bye is on the line.
In their first year in the conference, second ranked Texas is in the game, taking on fifth ranked Georgia. Now the Bulldogs handed Texas their only loss of the season. Now both of these teams, they're in the playoffs, no matter what. The winner gets a bye.
Loser will get a home playoff game, which isn't a bad consolation, especially for their students and fans.
And here's what Coaches Sarkisian and Smart had to say about the matchup in the SEC title game.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVE SARKISIAN, FOOTBALL COACH, UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS: This is a big deal to us. You know, I think so many times in the world that we live in is focusing on, what's next, what's next, what's next?
The CFP, the national championship; hey, we've got a -- we've got a great goal in front of us that we have an opportunity to achieve. KIRBY SMART, FOOTBALL COACH, UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA: This is the
greatest championship game of them all in terms of conferences. I'm honored to be playing. Coach Sark and his team at Texas, what a tremendous job he's done there.
Getting them into this game is a gantlet and it's a reward to play in it. And both teams have earned that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHOLES: Now top-ranked Oregon is taking on third-ranked Penn State for the Big 10 title.
This game, just like Texas, Georgia winner gets a bye, loser hosts a game on campus. The Ducks remain college football's only undefeated team.
Now as for the win and get in teams, the 17th ranked Clemson Tigers are going to be taking on the eighth ranked SMU Mustangs in the ACC title game. And even though Clemson has lost three times this season, the top five highest rated conference champions are guaranteed a spot in the playoffs.
[05:55:00]
So if Clemson wins, they are in. And Dabo Swinney said his team is in position to accomplish all of their goals.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DABO SWINNEY, FOOTBALL COACH, CLEMSON UNIVERSITY: This is our 10th time in this game in 16 years. I know we're supposedly a bad program now and we're doom and gloom, David. It's all downhill. Everything's terrible. Certainly didn't accomplish all of our regular season goals. But it's all about the postseason now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHOLES: The other win and get in situation today is in the Big 12 title game between Iowa State and Arizona State. The winner of that game could actually end up one of those first round byes if SMU ends up losing to Clemson.
And Alabama is going to be keeping a close eye on that ACC title game and they're pretty big SMU fans right now.
Because, if Clemson wins and claims the ACC title, would the committee also then keep SMU in the playoffs and knock Alabama out, who's ranked 11th right now?
We'll have to wait and see.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: Andy Scholes, thank you. Before we go, a record breaking era for Taylor Swift is coming to an end. And it was probably beyond her wildest dreams. The last three shows of the superstars Eras Tour began last night in Vancouver, Canada. High ranking politicians and celebrities joined fans as Swift performed her three-hour show.
It included the greatest songs of her 18-year career. Swift will have given more than 150 shows during the two-year long extravaganza. It's made an estimated $2 billion, the highest grossing tour in history. And Taylor Swift is expected to call it a wrap at her final show tomorrow.
Well, that wraps up this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Anna Coren. Thank you for your company and for joining all of us. "CNN THIS MORNING" is next.
