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Missing American Found Alive in Syria; Interview With Rep. James Comer (R-KY); Some Republicans Fear DOGE Plan Unrealistic. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired December 12, 2024 - 11:00   ET

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

[11:00:46]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: A missing American found alive in Syria barefoot in the streets of Damascus.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRAVIS TIMMERMAN, AMERICAN IN SYRIA: I was in prison for seven months. After that, I entered into the Syrian border illegally. I crossed the mountains between Lebanon and Syria.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: So, what was he doing in Syria and how is the U.S. trying to get him home? We're going to talk about that.

Plus, lights in the sky, fear and confusion the ground. We're learning some new details about drones spotted over New Jersey. I will speak to a state lawmaker who says a meeting with police left him even more alarmed.

And then later, new evidence in the case against the alleged CEO killer. An NYPD deputy commissioner will join us.

Hello, everyone, I'm Pamela Brown in Washington, and you're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

And we begin this hour with brand-new CNN reporting that I have with my colleague Annie Grayer about Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy's new Department of Government Efficiency known as DOGE. We're told the concern is growing among senior House Republicans that plans to cut $2 trillion from the federal government by 2026 just isn't realistic.

Some have even raised those concerns with GOP leadership.

I want to bring in the other person the byline with this story, Capitol Hill reporter Annie Grayer.

So, Annie, tell us more about the worry among these Republicans we have been speaking to.

ANNIE GRAYER, CNN CAPITOL HILL REPORTER: Well, the worry is, how are they going to do this? I think broadly Republicans and even some Democrats really support

this effort of cutting spending and excess government waste. There's really just a concern of how to do it. I mean, this bold price tag of $2 trillion to cut is one that has many Republicans scratching their heads, because discretionary spending, all of discretionary spending, which includes defense spending, is less than $2 trillion.

And then you have mandatory spending, which includes the popular programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. That is a very politically tricky issue, even Donald Trump has said he doesn't want to touch. So that has left Republicans wondering, well, OK, how are we going to do this?

There are a lot of ideas floating around. They just want to emphasize, Pam, that it's very much in the idea incubator stage. But one of those ideas includes firing all federal workers who were hired in the government in the last year, but that's getting some pushback internally and was told to take all of these things with a grain of salt.

But looking at the ideas that are floating around, Republicans and people on the Appropriations Committee say that this -- these are really just small ideas that are not going to make a big dent in that $2 trillion price tag.

But despite all of the concern here, Republicans are making the case directly to Musk and Ramaswamy and Trump that they need to work with Congress to make this happen and not around Congress. This was the case that lawmakers made in their private meeting with Musk and Ramaswamy last week.

So we will just have to see how Donald Trump, when he gets into office, how he approaches all of this.

BROWN: We shall see.

Annie Grayer, thank you so much.

And joining us now is Republican Congressman James Comer of Kentucky. He is the chair of the House Oversight Committee and met with Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy last week.

Congressman, thank you for coming on.

So you just heard there from Annie, really laying it out that we have been speaking to senior House Republicans who have expressed concern about the reality of DOGE's spending cuts, with one representative telling us: "There's a lot of people asking correctly, so how am I going to do that?"

In your view, how realistic do you think DOGE's goals are of cutting $2 trillion? Can you do it without touching Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid?

REP. JAMES COMER (R-KY): Well, we're going to find out. I think it's great that we have people in the private sector that are

willing to volunteer their time and work with Congress and work with the new Trump administration to try to make government more efficient. Of course, there are going to be skeptics in Congress.

Of course, there are going to be senior members of Congress that have been here a long time and very happy with the status quo. I don't know if the goal is attainable, but I know this. I'm going to do everything I can to work with DOGE and work with the Trump administration to cut as much wasteful spending as possible.

[11:05:10]

And I think the American people will appreciate any significant savings in their tax dollars. Right now, I think it's pretty clear the majority of Americans aren't satisfied with how their hard-earned tax dollars are being spent in Washington.

BROWN: So you sat down with Musk and Ramaswamy last week. What was your biggest takeaway from that meeting? Bring us inside the discussions at how this is all going to work.

COMER: Yes.

Well, DOGE is going to be a commission. It's not going to be a government agency. They're going to have a few staffers. My committee, the House Oversight Committee, has legislative jurisdiction over a big percentage of what they're wanting to do legislatively. So we're working with Musk and Ramaswamy and their staffers.

They're creating this commission to have an expiration date. The expiration date's going to be July 4, 2026. So they're going to try to make these recommendations over the first year-and-a-half of the Trump administration and then walk away. And that's kind of setting an example as to how you can create something in the government, but then have a sunset clause to where it ends.

The problem now in government, it's been the problem for decades, Pam, is that you create a government program or create a government agency. It never goes away, even when it becomes obsolete or inefficient. If anything, it grows every year and they have a cost of living adjustment and all of that.

So what DOGE is trying to do is just have a sincere effort to try to ensure that government is more efficient and tax dollars are better spent.

BROWN: So let's talk a little bit more about that, because our reporting indicates House Republicans plan to put a lot of DOGE's goals into the reconciliation bill.

What's the plan to do there? As you heard Annie, one of the -- from Annie, one of the ideas being tossed around is firing every federal employee from the last year. What about getting rid of DEI programs, getting rid of climate change programs? Help us understand what's actually being looked at to put into that bill. COMER: Well, if you look at a lot of the big spending packages that

have passed Congress over the past four years from the end of COVID through today, there have been enormous grant funds created in the Department of Energy and the Department of Agriculture and all of these different agencies, the EPA, that deal with the specific what we would call Green New Deal-type initiatives.

These grant funds were supposed to be created over a five-to-10-year time period. There's serious interest in looking at these grants to see if they're efficient, if they're being spent wisely, if all this solar money, if all of these E.V. hookups that have been paid for that really we haven't seen a lot of results from, if that money is being spent wisely.

If not, they're going to claw it back. And I think what the average person can't imagine is how many grant pools, grant funds and pools of money there are around the federal government. Obviously, you mentioned the federal work force.

The number of federal employees have skyrocketed over the past four years, especially the number that are working from home and not even coming to work. Government efficiency has gone down. There's a correlation with working from home and being efficient with the government. It may be different in the private sector, but in the government it's not working out.

So everything's on the table. Every big expenditure over the past four years is on the table. There's money in the infrastructure bill. There's money in COVID bills that haven't been spent yet. We're going to look at that. And then you look at improper payments. That's a big issue, where the government sends money to people fraudulently in Medicare, in Medicaid, where they send money fraudulently in unemployment insurance, fraudulent IRS tax refunds.

All of these improper payments are also on the table. And I think Musk and Ramaswamy have a good idea on how to prevent so much fraud and so many fraudulent payments in the federal government.

BROWN: Let me just follow up with you, because you talk about the grant money and so forth. Do you have concern when it comes to Elon Musk and the fact that he has billions of dollars of government contracts, right, how some of what he wants to do with the grant money, for example, could create a conflict of interest?

COMER: Well, I think he's well aware of the fact that he has some contracts with the government. He's well aware of the fact that all eyes are going to be on him.

I don't think I have ever heard anyone say that any grant work that any of Musk's major companies have done with the government has been a bad deal. If they are a bad deal, I think that will be on the table.

BROWN: But I think it's more his competitors, whether you would take back, for example...

COMER: Right. BROWN: ... a competitor of Musk's companies, then taking away some of that money that the government has given them, the questions that that could raise.

[11:10:05]

COMER: I think that's something that's going to be on the table. Everything's going to be on the table.

Musk is -- he's a very wealthy individual and I don't think he's going to lose much sleep if members of Congress or people in DOGE think that something isn't right that he's suggested, that everything DOGE suggests may not be well-received in Congress.

But I will tell you this, Pam. I'm excited. I have had several meetings of Ramaswamy. My staff is communicating with their staff. And I think that a lot of their goals and objectives can be achieved. We're going to certainly try to do that. There are members of Congress, there are a few in my own party that are going to be obstructionists.

They have they have been obstructionists since about the time I was born. But, at the end of the day, we have got a job to do. I think the American people made it loud and clear they're not happy with the direction Congress is going, they're not happy with how their tax dollars are being spent.

And we're going to try. And I will say this, Pam. There are a lot of Democrats that are wanting to participate in DOGE as well...

BROWN: Certainly.

COMER: ... even on my committee.

So, hopefully, we can get some things done.

BROWN: Really quickly, before we let you go, you talk about your committee. I want to ask you about AOC, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, announcing her bid for the top Democrat spot on your committee. What are your thoughts? Would you like to co-chair with her?

COMER: I'm a big AOC fan. I -- obviously, I don't agree with very much of her policy, but I think she's a good person. I think she's very well-spoken.

I did not have a good relationship with Jamie Raskin. I don't think that's any secret. I tell the press when they ask about the race for a ranking member, the Democrats have nowhere to go but up after having Jamie Raskin for the last four years. So I think AOC would be great. Gerry Connolly would be great.

I know Raja Krishnamoorthi, Ro Khanna, they have all -- their names have been thrown in the hat. But I certainly look forward to working with the next ranking member. And if it's AOC, I think we will have a good working relationship. We will obviously have a lot of differences on policy, but I think she's a -- I think she's a good, well-spoken person for the for the Democrats to serve in that position.

BROWN: All right, Chairman Comer, thank you for coming on, sharing your perspective. We appreciate your time today.

COMER: Thank you.

BROWN: And still ahead this hour: prisoners in Syria free now that the country's brutal dictatorship has collapsed, one of them an American man missing for months.

We're learning more details about him up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:17:11]

BROWN: We are following breaking news out of Syria this morning.

A missing American has been found alive. This man is identifying himself as 29-year-old Travis Timmerman of Missouri. And, last hour, my colleague Jim Acosta interviewed the executive director of the Syrian Emergency Task Force. He met with Timmerman after he got out of a Syrian prison. Listen to what he said about that meeting and what Timmerman told him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOUAZ MOUSTAFA, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, SYRIAN EMERGENCY TASK FORCE: He crossed the border into Syria seven months ago. As soon as he crossed over the border, the Assad regime detained him for absolutely no reason, and then placed him in a solitary cell for seven months, where he listened.

Thank God he wasn't tortured, but right at his door, he said every single day, seven days a week, he heard the screams and the beatings of Syrian civilians.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: CNN's Alex Marquardt hard joins us now.

Alex, what more do we know about this American who was found today?

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Pamela, this is a remarkable story.

That activist from the Syrian Emergency Task Force, Mouaz Moustafa, also told CNN that they're going to do whatever they can to help Travis Timmerman get in touch with his family here in the U.S., with American forces or American diplomats.

But we understand from Moustafa that Timmerman had been freed from a prison and that he was actually walking around in Southern Damascus on foot, that he had been walking for around 13 miles. And the facility that he had been held in was one called the Palestine branch. It's a well-known branch of the Syrian military intelligence. And you saw there that he's been speaking with reporters and he in

fact told NBC that the reason he had gone to Damascus in the first place was for a pilgrimage. And he said that his lord had sent him to Damascus. Here's a little bit more of what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIMMERMAN: After that, I entered into the Syrian border illegally. I crossed the mountains between Lebanon and Syria. And I was living in that mountain for three days and three nights without food or water.

And I was seen by a border guard whilst I did that. And then that's when I was arrested. And I was sent to a Syrian prison called (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And you're an American. Where are you from in America?

TIMMERMAN: Missouri.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're from Missouri.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: So, clearly there saying that he's from Missouri and that he was detained as soon as he crossed into Syria.

There is a missing persons notice that we found from Hungary from back in August, where they said that they were looking for any information Timmerman, that he'd last been seen at a church. We did hear from Secretary of State Antony Blinken today, who was in the region, who said that they will do everything they can to get him out of Syria and to bring him home.

But, Pam, this is a mystery. We didn't know much about Timmerman. We didn't know that he was missing in Syria and here he is found today.

[11:20:01]

BROWN: Certainly a big development.

All right, Alex, thank you so much for that reporting.

And we're also following some other news out of Syria. These desperate Syrians are hoping that their missing loved ones will also emerge from Assad's secret prisons that are now being opened up. Thousands of people have been freed since the regime collapsed.

CNN's Clarissa Ward went inside one of those prisons and just found an incredible discovery, very emotional discovery behind a cell door. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Deep in the belly of the regime's air force intelligence headquarters...

(on camera): These are English letters.

WARD (voice-over): ... we are hoping to find traces of Austin Tice, an American journalist held captive in Syria since 2012.

It's one of many secret prisons across the city. This specific branch was tasked with surveillance, arrest and killing of all regime critics.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These are all cleaned out.

WARD: We don't find any hints of Tice, but come across something extraordinary.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't tell though. It might just be a blanket, but it's the only cell that's locked.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is he going to shoot it?

WARD: The guard makes us turn the camera off while he shoots the lock off the cell door. We go in to get a closer look. It's still not clear if there is something under the blanket.

(on camera): Oh, it moved. Is there someone there? I thought I saw it move. Is someone there? Or is it just a blanket? I don't know.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Actually, I think it's someone.

Hello?

WARD: OK, let's just -- let's just go.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, it's moved.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's OK. It's OK. Journalist. Journalist.

WARD (voice-over): "I'm a civilian," he says. "I'm a civilian."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's OK. It's OK.

(CROSSTALK)

WARD: He tells the fighter he's from the city of Homs and has been in the cell for three months.

(on camera): OK. You're OK. You're OK. You're OK. You're OK. You're OK.

(voice-over): He clutches my arm tightly with both hands.

(on camera): OK. Does anyone have any water? Water.

(CROSSTALK) WARD: OK. It's water. It's water. OK. OK. You're OK. You're OK. You're OK.

(voice-over): We start to walk him outside.

"Thank God you are safe. Don't be afraid," the fighter says. "You are free."

"This is the third prison they brought me to," he says, "the third prison." After three months in a windowless cell, he can finally see the sky.

"My god, the light," he says. "Oh, God, there's light. My God, there's light."

(on camera): OK. OK. OK.

(CROSSTALK)

WARD: You're OK.

(voice-over): "Stay with me, stay with me," he repeats again and again.

(on camera): OK.

(CROSSTALK)

WARD (voice-over): "For three months, I didn't know anything about my family. I didn't hear anything about my children."

The fighter hands him something to eat. He can barely lift it to his mouth. His body can't handle it.

(on camera): OK. You're OK.

(voice-over): His captives fled during the fall of Damascus, leaving him with no food or water. That was at least four days ago.

"I'm shaking. My face is shaking," he says. The rebel tells him: "There's no more army, no more prisons, no more checkpoints."

"Are you serious?" he says.

"Syria is free," he tells him. It's the first time he has heard those words. He tells us his name is Adil Khurbal (ph), and that officers from the much-feared Mukhabarat intelligence services took him from his home and began interrogating him about his phone.

[11:25:10]

"They brought me here to Damascus. They asked me about names of terrorists," he says.

"Did they hit you?" the fighter asks.

"Yes, yes," he says.

As a paramedic arrives, the shock sets in. "There's nothing. Everything's OK. The Red Crescent is coming to help you," this man assures him. "You are safe. Don't be afraid anymore. Everything you are afraid of is gone."

Tens of thousands of Syrians have disappeared in Assad's prisons. Up until 15 minutes ago, Adil Khurbal was one of them. He is still petrified.

"Don't be afraid, don't be afraid," the ambulance worker reassures him.

"Every car I got into, they blindfolded me," he says.

It is the end of a very dark chapter for him and for all of Syria. But so many ghosts remain.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Wow, what a gripping, emotional journey. That was brought to you by Clarissa Ward.

Thank you so much, Clarissa.

We should note CNN cannot verify why the man was questioned by Syrian intelligence. However, as you heard there, he said he was being questioned about his phone.

Well, still ahead for you this hour, police say they have some new clues that tie Luigi Mangione directly to the murder of UnitedHealthcare's CEO.

Up next, I'm going to talk with the NYPD's deputy commissioner of intelligence and counterterrorism.

Stick around. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)