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Assad Regime Collapses As Rebels Takes Syrian Capital; Assad And Family in Moscow; Rebels Take Damascus As Assad Regime Falls; U.S. Attacks ISIS Camps In Syria. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired December 08, 2024 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:57]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: Hello, everyone. Thanks for joining us today. I'm Alisyn Camerota, along with my colleague Wolf Blitzer.

And we begin with the breathtaking news this weekend out of Syria. The long, brutal regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is over.

It was a stunning end to a violent regime started by Assad's father more than 50 years ago. A lightning fast assault by a coalition of rebel groups captured the capital of Damascus. A source tells CNN that Assad and his family have arrived in Moscow and are being given asylum there. Many Syrians spent their entire lives under Assad's violent rule.

Today, they poured into the streets to celebrate. Syrians who had lived under the fist of Assad's power and corruption could be seen entering the abandoned presidential office. Syrians walking freely through the presidential palace, even into the kitchen of Assad's family, where specific instructions were still posted for the family's menu preferences.

The rebels also emptied out some of the regime's prisons, notorious holding cells, where so-called enemies of Assad were detained and frequently tortured.

It was just a little more than a week ago when opposition forces met little resistance as they took the key city of Aleppo. Then they swept south before surrounding Damascus and deposing Assad. In the end, Russian fighter jets, which had been striking rebel forces in recent days, were nowhere to be found, and Assad's troops dispersed and fled into the streets.

President Biden reacting to these stunning developments earlier today, pledging U.S. support for the Syrian people.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's a moment of historic opportunity for the long suffering people of Syria to build a better future for their proud country. It's also a moment of risk and uncertainty. As we all turn to the question of what comes next. the United States will work with our partners and the stakeholders in Syria to help them seize an opportunity to manage the risk.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: CNN's chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward is inside Syria right now, and just a short time ago, she spoke to us from Damascus, the capital. Here are some of what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, I have to say the moment is just utterly surreal for those of us who have been covering this story for more than 14 years. It never seemed possible that it would end like this.

I want to say that the streets are incredibly calm, incredibly quiet, but you can see just behind me a few cars have been going through the street. There's actually a curfew in place from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. That is a security measure of course. There has been some looting in Damascus earlier on, some chaotic scenes. And so as a precaution, as we saw in Aleppo, they have put this curfew into place.

I want to show you, though, Wolf, a clip of the moment that we crossed the border because this is a border that I crossed many times when I used to live in Lebanon, when I used to cover Syria at the very, very beginning of the uprising, and the contrast from what it was and what we experienced tonight is just startling. So take a look at this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WARD: So we're just crossing now into Syria. It's astonishing to see it's absolutely empty. The border points before there would have been soldiers. There would have been border guards. Now there is absolutely nobody from the Syrian regime.

Some friendly people waving us through. And honestly, the last time I came down this road was back in 2011. I was leaving Syria. I had been undercover in Damascus posing as a tourist. Went back into Lebanon, and I never imagined this moment would come when we would be driving through this border with no one from the regime to stop us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[16:05:18]

WARD: The scene at that border crossing as we pass through it, again, it was already dark, already past curfew. Very, very quiet and just nothing like we've seen it before.

The only real evidence we saw, Wolf, of any struggle to finally take Damascus, to finally ouster Bashar al-Assad was a tank in the road below a torn poster of president or I should say, former president Bashar al-Assad.

And Wolf, my cameraman, Scott McWhinnie, just found this on the ground, literally, as we were listening to that clip. This is the old flag of the Syrian regime, which has two green stars. The rebels' flag has three green stars, but this one has now been -- literally we just found it on the floor. I guess a real moment where you see how much things have changed just in the past 24 hours.

In terms of the security situation on the streets, I would just add, we anticipated that we might see quite a lot of checkpoints as we came into the city. We didn't. We did see a group of men. They did not appear to be armed, but they asked us what we were doing, where we were going, and now that we are sort of ensconced in our place where we're staying for the night, we have seen a couple of patrols.

I saw two men armed and I went up to them and asked them where they were from. They told me they were from Idlib, which is in the northern part of the country. And we saw a man on the street go up and wanted to pose for a photograph of them, which I think sort of speaks to the moment. There is obviously jubilation, elation, but also this sense of you can't compute. It was so fast, so breathtaking. It's astonishing. And I think people are taking some time to try to process the magnitude.

Keep in mind, Wolf, we're talking about 53 years of Assad rule, 53 years of a brutal police state. And I can't tell you how many Syrians have said to me, Wolf, that, you know, we understand that there are concerns about the rebels and the makeup of the rebels and the fact that some of them are Islamists, and some of them are even jihadists, or have been affiliated with al Qaeda or a proscribed organizations.

But, let us have this moment. Let us celebrate the fact that this brutal dictator who has ruthlessly killed hundreds of thousands of people, who has gassed children with lethal nerve agents, who has locked people in prisons and tortured and beaten them to death, that he is finally gone, and that whatever may come and whatever the anxiety, this is a new chapter for Syria -- Wolf.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Our courageous correspondent Clarissa Ward in Damascus for us right now.

We're also following major new developments on where Bashar al-Assad has fled. An official source in Russia tells CNN Bashar al-Assad and his family have arrived in Moscow and have been granted asylum in Russia.

CNN's Fred Pleitgen is in Moscow for us.

Fred, what more are you learning about Assad's arrival where you are in Russia?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, a Russian source, Wolf, now confirming that Bashar al-Assad is indeed on the ground here in Moscow, as are members of his family as well. And the Russians are saying that he was granted asylum here in Russia on humanitarian grounds as they put it. So obviously even after he was been ousted from power in Syria, the Russians are still allowing him to come here to this country and most probably stay in this country as well as he has now been given asylum by the Russians.

All of this coming, Wolf, at the end of the day where the whereabouts of the former Syrian leader were very much unclear. The rebels, of course, storming into Damascus earlier today, saying that he had fled but then it was unclear where he was and it was actually the Russians who were the first to confirm that Bashar al-Assad had indeed left Syria. They say that he had told those under him to make sure that there is a transition of power, and that he then left the country.

It was the Russian Foreign Ministry that said that. Of course, the Russians have been one of the main backers of the Assad government over the past nearly 10 years that Russia was first very active in the Syrian civil war. And then of course also remained its military presence inside of Syria as well.

I can show you where I am right now. I'm actually in what most probably now is the embassy of the former Syrian Arab Republic. And you can see up there, Wolf, that the flag of the Syrian Arab Republic, the one that Clarissa was holding before that, that has been taken down now here as well in Moscow at what was one of the most important embassies for the Syrians.

[16:10:13]

And if we point to the door there, you can see that the plaque of the Syrian Arab Republic has also been removed from this building as well. You can see that there's not a single light on inside the building, so it's unclear whether or not anybody is going to be returning here.

You can also see over there, if we point to the other side of the building that the busts of Hafez al-Assad, of course the father of Bashar al-Assad who ruled Syria before him is actually still there. However, this, of course, does point to the fact that the Russians have now come to terms with the fact that the Assad family will no longer be ruling Syria.

The Russians are saying that they are in touch, Wolf, with all of the armed factions on the ground in Syria. The Russians, of course, very concerned about their military assets in the Syrian Arab Republic. They are very important to the Russians. Both the airbase near Latakia and also a port that they use for their warships near the town of Tartus -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right. Fred Pleitgen in Moscow for us.

Fred, thank you very much.

Let's get some more now on the breaking news coming out of Syria. Rebel fighters liberating the capital of Damascus and abruptly ending the long and brutal rule of President Bashar al-Assad.

CNN's chief international security correspondent, Nick Paton Walsh, is joining us right now.

Nick, we know who this rebel group is designated -- that this rebel group is designated a terror organization by the U.S., the U.N. and many Western countries. And a senior U.S. official says the U.S. believes a significant portion of this HTS group, as it's called, still has strong ties to ISIS.

What more can you tell us about the group's ideology and the potential links a major cause becoming? And are these potential links a major cause for concern?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Look, we simply don't know at this stage. And I think it's entirely fair to permit HTS who have come to this position saying they wish to be inclusive. They wish to represent all the different ethnicities and religions inside of Syria, to give them a period of time in which they could potentially try and execute that. But it's also important not to forget where they came from.

Now this rebel opposition movement is not exclusively HTS. There are many other groups that are part of it. Some potentially worse as extremists, some potentially more moderate. But HTS has attracted this attention because of the history of their leader al-Jolani.

Now, as his name suggests, he is in fact from the Syrian area near the Golan Heights and went as a young man to fight the U.S. occupation in Iraq. Not now normal thing necessarily for someone motivated to do, given the emotions against the U.S. presence at the beginning of the war in 2003, 2004, and then later on, he moved into the Al-Nusra Group which became al Qaeda's affiliate fighting the Syrian regime in the civil war.

And that, of course, led to great concern about the extremist nature, that part of the opposition against Assad was indeed developing. But then, indeed, the Nusra Group and Jolani himself suggested that when ISIS spawned from that rebel movement, that that was indeed too extreme for them and went their own separate direction.

The issue, I think, here is whether or not any of this designation, any of this history of extremism becomes the central tenet of what their government ideas necessarily are. And we don't really know at this stage whether Jolani has a particular specific plan for the kind of government he wants to run in Syria. He's been clear to try and sound inclusive. He gave CNN a very open interview.

His previous interviews have had his face covered back in 2014 when he spoke to Al Jazeera. And indeed, he's used his real name of Ahmed al- Sharaa recently as well to try and suggest the idea that he's sort of emerging from the shadows as a genuine politician here. But a lot of this is essentially something we're going to have to learn more about over time. The U.S. still has a bounty of $10 million over his head, which is a key thing certainly to bear in mind.

If that is alleviated, it might be a suggestion that the U.S. is more comfortable. But ultimately, too, we have to look to his backers here. It does appear that Turkey has a significant stake in the success of HTS moving forwards. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was clear on Friday when he spoke about this that he tried negotiations with Syria's President Bashar al-Assad. They failed and he wished this opposition movement success, he said, all the way to Damascus. Well, here they are. And so I think many will look to Ankara to see

exactly what it is they can do to force moderation on this group. I think many, too, will be wary and skeptical about Turkey's history with entrusting people who I think they felt potentially were going to serve their cause.

[16:15:07]

I remember being in 2013, in southern Turkey, and watching a series of foreign men turning up in the airports there, crossing the border and joining kind of more jihadist causes there. At the time Turkish officials were trying to play that down as not necessarily something to be worried about. But later we saw ISIS emerge in parts of Syria and Iraq indeed.

So while there's no immediate parallels necessarily at this stage because the civil war that caused so much of that extremism in Syria and indeed Iraq, neighboring, has dissipated and we're looking at a moment of victory now where a new kind of Syria can indeed potentially be forged, it's important to remember where many of these leaders hail from. And also, you know, just try and see whether they're able to put behind the extraordinary violence of the past decade or so and turn out to be as effective in governance as they have been in the last week in ousting this particularly brutal regime.

Wolf, I think however much we look into exactly who Jolani is, who HTS are, it's really important to remember exactly what they appear to be replacing. And that's the Assad regime, which is frankly one of the most brutal, horrific states we've seen over the last decades on earth, responsible for the indiscriminate bombardment of civilians, the death of children, the use of chemical weapons, just utterly horrific what they've been capable of doing.

And so, yes, obviously huge scrutiny about what comes next, as it will define the nature of this particular victory but I'm sure that sense of relief, change is behind so much jubilation we're seeing.

BLITZER: That's a really important point. Nick Paton Walsh reporting for us.

Nick, thank you very much.

We're getting new information right now about a series of U.S. airstrikes inside Syria against ISIS targets as the Assad government was falling. Our breaking news coverage will continue right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:21:42]

CAMEROTA: More breaking news now. The U.S. says it's struck more than 75 ISIS targets in Syria today. An official tells CNN those targets include leaders, operatives and camps. We're told the airstrikes were conducted using multiple air force assets, including B-52 bombers, F- 15 fighter jets and A-10 aircraft. The airstrikes follow news that the Assad regime has crumbled and rebel groups are taking control.

I'm joined now by retired Lieutenant General Ben Hodges. He's the former commander of U.S. Army Forces in Europe.

General Hodges, thanks so much for being here. What are these U.S. airstrikes about and why today?

LT. GEN. BEN HODGES (RET), U.S. ARMY: Well, Alisyn, I think that probably U.S. Central Command saw opportunity and targets as a result of what's happened to the Assad regime. But I have to say, it also reflects a hyper focus by the United States on counterterrorism, on destroying ISIS which is not a bad thing to destroy ISIS. But I don't know what our strategy is more broadly for the region. And so this attack is a reminder of that's mostly what we're doing.

CAMEROTA: What is the level of the ISIS threat inside Syria today?

HODGES: Well, of course, this is an organization that has existed for some time. It has morphed based on opportunity and its own challenges. And of course, I think it's in our interest that ISIS is eliminated, but the bigger point is what happens now in the aftermath of the Assad regime. What are Americas interests? What are the interests of the West in Syria?

And ISIS, frankly, is not an existential threat to our country or our allies. It's something that needs to be addressed, but it should be part of a much larger broader strategy for the region.

CAMEROTA: But you make a great point that there is now a power vacuum and so what do we know about this rebel group, the coalition, and, you know, the leaders that have pushed aside Assad and gotten his regime out of Syria? I asked because the group, as you know, was once linked to al Qaeda and the U.S. has designated some parts of it a terrorist organization.

HODGES: Yes, of course, we don't know all the different groups. I guess that's what makes this region such a challenge for our government, for U.S. Central Command and others, because there are so many different groups and interests involved. And I thought Nick, your colleague Nick did a very good job of explaining some of the challenges of understanding what's going on, which by the way also highlights why American intelligence is so important.

And it's not just having two or three agents there, but it's the whole network of sources that are used working with partners. How important it is that other nations trust our intelligence and the ability then to do analysis of what's going on there. So we know who is who. I think trying to find out the real intentions of Mr. Jolani, for example, that will be at the top of most lists of intelligence requirements.

CAMEROTA: I mean, of course this comes at a time of transition in the U.S. also, President-elect Trump said on social media that the United States should not get involved in Syria. Is it possible for the U.S. now to just be hands off with Syria?

[16:25:08]

HODGES: No, not at all. We are involved. I mean, we have allies in the region. We have a NATO ally Turkiye. We have our Israeli partners, and we have Arab nations that are partners as well. So we are involved. We just talked about trying to hit ISIS targets there, and it is in the interest of the United States that Russia and Iran do not have any more influence in Syria. It's in our interest that Syria is no longer a conduit for weapons from Iran to Hezbollah.

And it's in our interest that the millions of Syrian refugees that left Syria as a result of the civil war, that they are allowed to come back home because that will take pressure off of our Turkish ally and also our European allies. So of course, we have interests, and of course we should have a stake in how this plays out.

Now I think all of us that are trying to make predictions right now, we're all going to be wrong. It's too early to be able to make accurate predictions about what's coming, but I think we should be very clear about our interests there and clear on what our objectives are.

CAMEROTA: Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, thank you for all that.

HODGES: Thanks, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Well, we've seen armed protests and rebellions against the Syrian government over the years. What was different this time around? That's next in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:30:58]

BLITZER: We are following all the latest developments on the breaking story out of Syria today, after rebel fighters say they liberated the capital of Damascus, abruptly ending the long, brutal rule of President Bashar al-Assad.

Last hour, I spoke with Firas Maksad of the Middle East Institute here in Washington, who said, this moment for the Middle East is akin to the collapse of the Berlin Wall for Europe. And that it ushers in a new era, not just for Syria, but for the entire region. A region that is all too familiar with regime change, after the 2011 uprising known as the Arab Spring.

Joining us now is Arwa Damon, Founder and President of INARA, the International Network for Aid Relief and Assistance, and a good friend, former CNN colleague. Arwa, you and I covered a lot of Middle East stories together. You know this region well. How are you thinking about the history that's being made today?

ARWA DAMON, FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT, INARA: You know, Wolf, I've been finding myself really flashing back to what it was that Syrians had to pay to get to this point. The hundreds of thousands who were killed. The 10s of thousands who were detained. And what it really means. I mean, if we just stop and think about it for a minute. After decades

of rule of the Assad dynasty, but especially after the last 13, 14 years, we're at a moment in time where, across Syria, you can pretty much say Syria is free. And you can say that without fear. And that, in and of itself -- and no one knows how long that's going to last. But that, in and of itself, is such a seismic moment.

I mean, think about the families that are going to be able to be reunited. So many people are flocking to the prisons trying to find word of those who they loved who disappeared.

We're seeing extraordinarily heartfelt moments of people being freed, of families being reunited. The sense of, sort of, you know, optimism of, oh, after all this time, are we actually going to be able to go home, that we're hearing from so many of those who are internally displaced. So many of those who are refugees.

I mean there is this, you know, euphoria, but there's also so much apprehension. And everyone's head is spinning. Not just with what this moment means, but with everything that they went through to get to this point in time.

BLITZER: Yes, good point. And to that point, Arwa, we're seeing really incredible videos, pictures of Syrians being released from infamously brutal prisons. Help us appreciate a little bit more just how significant this is and what horrors may come to light as journalists and civilians investigate what actually happened there.

DAMON: I mean, let's start talking about the visceral fear that existed of the Assad regime. That permeated every fiber of every single person's being to such a degree that I remember, on numerous occasions, talking to Syrians who were outside of Syria who were worried about appearing on camera, because they still had loved ones inside Syria.

And they were afraid that their loved ones would pay the price for their outspokenness. The fear of being put into one of Assad's prisons, disappearing into the dark nexus of torture and despair that existed there.

Let's also remember the images of the skeletal bodies that that emerged, because brave activists were able to, you know, get them out. Those infamous seizure (?) files. And the stories that we already heard, up until this point, about the various different torture techniques that the Assad regime henchmen used to use.

I mean, the level of fear, the way that this family governed the country by crushing its own population is not something to be underestimated.

[16:35:01]

DAMON: And the euphoria that Syrians feel. Yes, it's mixed with apprehension and anxiety and uncertainty about the future. But this is a moment. And to think also, Wolf, that it came after the world basically abandoned Syria. The world was willing to write off all of the dead and the detained and the displaced and start to normalize with the regime. To think that this moment came at that point in time when no one was predicting it.

And it is a moment that is, in many ways, so uniquely and truly Syrian that one can't help but appreciate the strength of those who were able to hold on for this long.

BLITZER: It really is amazing what's going on. What are your biggest concerns right now, as it relates to the entire region?

DAMON: You know, it's obviously the stability of it, or rather the instability of it. I mean, look, you know, talking about Syria right now. No one is really deluded into thinking that anything is going to be easy in this, you know, next phase.

There are a plethora of challenges and a plethora of very real and valid fears. But there's also a certain level of sort of pragmatism and maturity that we're seeing, in terms of not just, you know, military strategies that brought Syria to this point, but also in the political space as well.

Now, that being said, it could very much be lip service. And it really is one of those scenarios of, you know, who really knows what's going to happen? I don't think anyone can predicted what just took place, nor do I think that anyone can really predict what is going to happen. Because there are so many different factors.

And I think, you know, when you kind of extrapolate and look at the region as a whole, Syria, Lebanon, you know, Gaza and everything that's happening, there is a sense that things cannot stabilize until everything stabilizes.

But, at the same time, you know, the region is changing, whether it wants to or not. And some of these changes are being forced upon it. And some of these changes are being driven by the people themselves.

And I think there's this great sense, especially as someone who has basically been covering this region for more than 20 years now, of is this the point where the people of the region are actually given the agency to be able to decide their own future, without any of these outside meddling forces?

BLITZER: Always good to reconnect with Arwa Damon. Arwa's in Doha, Qatar, for us right now. Arwa, thank you very, very much. Excellent analysis.

Meanwhile, President Biden is laying out the next steps his administration will take after rebels topple the Syrian government. Much more coming up. That's ahead.

[16:37:55]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BLITZER: More breaking news we're following, the White House focusing in on the next steps in Syria, following the fall of the Bashar al- Assad regime. CNN's Kayla Tausche is joining us from the White House right now. Kayla, President Biden raised some of these key objectives when he spoke earlier this afternoon. Tell us about that.

KAYLA TAUSCHE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, President Biden outlined a rough roadmap of what he sees as the next steps for Syria and the broader stability of the region. And they include, first, supporting Syria's neighboring countries, with Biden planning to speak to those leaders in the coming days.

Second, preventing ISIS from exploiting the power vacuum that is left by the Assad regime, which has now been overturned. To that end, the U.S., in just the last few hours, has hit 75 ISIS targets at a big gathering, using 140 munitions, to send a message to ISIS to not try to reconstitute in the wake of this coup.

And number three, to promote a United Nations-backed transition process toward an independent Syria, which Biden called a historic opportunity.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's a moment of historic opportunity for the long-suffering people of Syria to build a better future for their proud country. It's also a moment of risk and uncertainty. As we all turn to the question of what comes next, the United States will work with our partners and the stakeholders in Syria to help them seize an opportunity to manage the risks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAUSCHE: As for those risks, of course, the resurgence of HTS is one of those risks. With questions about whether that will, indeed, be the group that will retain power in Syria.

A senior administration official says, to that end, that the U.S. has made contact with all Syrian groups, including many other opposition groups which President Biden encouraged to speak out.

But as to what the day after for Syria looks like, these officials and the president, himself, have indicated that remains up to the Syrian people -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Kayla Tausche at the White House for us. Kayla, thank you very much. And now that the Bashar al-Assad regime has fallen, how will it change U.S. policy for the incoming Trump Administration? We have details. That's next.

[16:44:50]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: Shortly before the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, President-Elect Trump posted on social media that the U.S. should not get involved in Syria, saying, quote, "This is not our fight."

I'm joined now by Shelby Talcott. She's a politics reporter for Semafor. Shelby, we know that President-Elect Trump wants to avoid involvement in other countries wars, as he has said. But all of the military analysts and international relations analysts we've had on today say the U.S. is already involved. We have 900 troops in Syria. We're deeply invested in what happens next there.

So, is President-Elect Trump giving any details about what he wants the U.S. to do?

SHELBY TALCOTT, POLITICS REPORTER, SEMAFOR: We haven't heard too much yet. But we do know that J.D. Vance, his vice presidential pick, has echoed his sentiment. He said earlier today that this is not our fight. We should stay out of it.

Now, as you note, that is easier said than done.

[16:50:02]

TALCOTT: And I think a lot is also going to be determined based on what the Biden Administration decides to do in the next month.

Remember, the Trump Administration has not begun yet. And so, what the Biden Administration does over the next several weeks is going to impact what Donald Trump can and maybe has to do, going forward at the start of his administration.

CAMEROTA: It was interesting because after Assad fled, President-Elect Trump also posted that Russia had abandoned Assad and was in a, quote, "weakened state because of the Ukraine war." So, what is Trump's latest position on Russia and the Ukraine war?

TALCOTT: You know, he said all along, throughout the campaign trail, when I followed him over the past two years, that he wants to come to some sort of deal with Ukraine and Russia. And that has not changed. That continues to be his stance.

And, again, it is a situation where perhaps this is easier said than done. But he believes that, because of the situation in Syria, it has even more so impacted Russia and their ability to be successful.

CAMEROTA: Another very interesting political byproduct of all of this is Tulsi Gabbard. So, that, of course, is Trump's nominee for director of National Intelligence. She'll be on Capitol Hill this week.

She met with Assad, as we will remember, in Syria in 2017. And she dismissed U.S. Intelligence findings, at the time, that he used chemical weapons on civilians, though there was evidence to that. She said that Assad was, quote, "not the enemy of the United States."

So, what does this moment mean for her confirmation hearing?

TALCOTT: I think this is a huge moment for Tulsi Gabbard. Obviously, lawmakers have not forgotten about those comments and they were already concerned. Now, with Syria front and center, there's going to be a lot of questions that I anticipate she's going to face in the next week, and during her confirmation process, about those comments. And about how she would handle and advise Donald Trump on issues like Syria.

CAMEROTA: Has she said anything this weekend, since all of this erupted?

TALCOTT: You know, a lot of Donald Trump's picks have been extremely quiet. Most of them, with the exception of Pete Hegseth, has not -- have not been on the media circuit. Obviously, Pete is the exception because he is in, sort of, the political fight for his life.

So, we don't really know too much about it. We do anticipate she's going to Capitol Hill in the next week. I believe that we will learn more about those meetings as they -- as they come.

But all of the real political fight is with Pete right now. And that's the concern that Donald Trump's campaign is focused on, at the moment.

CAMEROTA: Yes, it makes sense. Understood. And it's just -- I mean, to your point, it's fine. And I think that a lot of people really respond and were attracted to President-Elect Trump's idea to not have the U.S. be involved in overseas wars.

But, as all of the analysts have said today, there is so much at stake. I mean, there's -- you know, just today, President Biden's administration had airstrikes against ISIS targets. I think 75 ISIS targets in Syria.

So, the U.S. is, you know, wrapped up there. And it would be nice to hear from President Trump what the plan is to disentangle.

TALCOTT: Yes, certainly. And, again, a lot of this is going to depend on what happens in the next few weeks, right?

As you said, we are already involved in Syria. So, the issue is not let's not get involved in Syria. It is going to be, for Donald Trump, how do we remove ourselves from involvement in Syria? If that, in fact, is what he plans to do.

Now, the other thing is, of course, we don't know how these rebel groups are going to wield power. We don't know if they are going to seek to gain new territory. All of those factors could affect what Donald Trump ultimately ends up having to do, once he actually takes office.

So, it is not as easy as let's just not get involved.

CAMEROTA: Shelby Talcott, thank you very much. And we'll be right back.

[16:54:03]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) CAMEROTA: Before we go, on this very busy news' day, I just want to take a moment to share some personal news. This is my last day on air at CNN.

I've had such incredible opportunities here these past 10-plus years. I've interviewed presidents and heroes and extraordinary people. The kind of peak career experiences that I had dreamed of since I was a teenager.

The journalists at CNN are the very best in the entire news business. And it's been an honor to have been their colleague.

It's also an honor to have been in your homes this past decade, through some of the biggest stories of our lifetimes. I'm always touched when a viewer comes up and tells me that I helped them get through these challenging times.

So, I look forward to doing much more of that with you. Please follow me on Instagram at Alisyn Camerota for updates on where to find me in the very near future.

And to my dear friends at CNN. Thank you for all of the laughs that we've shared. All you've taught me about the power of journalism. And for making my time here so deeply rewarding.

I wish you all a peaceful holiday season. And we'll see you all soon.

BLITZER: And, Alisyn, I think I speak for all of our viewers, here in the United States and around the world, when I say, we will miss you. You're not only a good friend, but a colleague and an outstanding journalist.