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House Republicans Slam Johnson Over Bloated Spending Bill; Israel Launches Retaliatory Strikes On Houthis In Yemen; Court To Open Ahead Of Expected Verdicts In Pelicot Case; United Nations Says One Million Syrians Are Expected to Return in Six Months; Police Investigating Rupnow's Social Media Posts, Unclear How She Obtained Handgun Used in Attack; U.S. Supreme Court to Hear Case Over Potential TikTok Ban; U.S. Says Invasive Hornet Species is Eradicated. Aired 2- 2:45a ET

Aired December 19, 2024 - 02:00   ET

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

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[02:00:29]

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world and to everyone streaming us on CNN Max. I'm Rosemary Church. Just ahead. Financial fears as the U.S. markets take a plunge. What we know about the fallout so far.

A verdict is expected in the Gisele Pelicot's mass rape trial considered one of France's darkest criminal cases in recent history.

And we are learning new details about the home life of the teenage girl who opened fire at a Wisconsin school.

ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta. This is CNN NEWSROOM with Rosemary Church.

CHURCH: Good to have you with us. And we begin with the global economic uncertainty ahead of Donald Trump's second term in the White House. The U.S. Federal Reserve rattled by the possibility of tariffs that could keep inflation high for the next several years. The Fed cut interest rates by a quarter of a point on Wednesday, as expected, but the Central Bank is now forecasting only two rate cuts next year, instead of four.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell says economic growth and the job market look good for next year, but inflation may not come down to two percent until 2027. Now that sent Wall Street into a sell off, the Dow fell more than 1100 points, extending its losing streak to 10 days, the worst since 1974.

And financial markets in the Asia Pacific region appear to be following Wall Street's lead. Major indices in Japan, China and South Korea, are all in negative territory. You can see there the numbers. So, I want to bring in CNN's Marc Stewart who joins us live from Beijing. So, Marc, what stands out to you when you look at those numbers? MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Rosemary, the declines that we have seen across Asia are certainly to be expected when the head of the Federal Reserve warns the future inflation, but the declines in South Korea in particular are very noteworthy. Close to two percent. That's a lot when you look at the financial scheme of things. Perhaps the political uncertainty facing that part of the world with the president there may be contributing.

But nonetheless, no nation wants to hear about an inflation problem in the United States persisting even further, because what that really means is the cost of borrowing money is going to cost more. Especially for American consumers, but that could have global ramifications. So, for example, an American family that may be considering buying some electronics that are made in Japan or a car that is made from abroad.

Those lending costs, those borrowing costs, are going to cost more. So that could certainly have global implications. And then, as you mentioned, certainly a lot of uncertainty about the new administration with the fiscal policies will be and what trade will look like. Will there be wholesale tariffs, as we have heard from the President-elect? All of those reasons are prompting the Fed chair to remain very cautious. Let's listen to some of his remarks yesterday he made in Washington.

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JEROME POWELL, FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD CHAIRMAN: The point about uncertainty is it's kind of common sense thinking that when the path is uncertain you go a little bit slower. It's not unlike driving on a foggy night or walking into a dark room full of furniture, you just slow down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEWART: It's this idea of a slowdown that no one wants to hear. Now, Rosemary, you know, as we've talked many times, markets are fickle. They certainly could rebound. I heard from one trader today here who said that what happened was a ray -- away overreaction. Those are his words, and that could perhaps prompt new opportunities for people to invest once again with these lower stock prices.

We should not discount the idea of what's known as a Santa Claus Rally. Typically, as we inch closer to Christmas, investors do feel some of that holiday excitement, and they tend to buy and we see a rebound in the markets. Something that traders here in Asia, Europe and certainly the United States, Rosemary hope to see in the days ahead.

CHURCH: Indeed. Marc Stewart joining us live from Beijing. Many thanks.

Well, he's still a month away from his return to the White House, but Donald Trump is already having a major influence on business in Washington. This time, effectively, thanking a bipartisan deal that would have funded the government through mid-March, forcing lawmakers back to the drawing board. [02:05:07]

In a social media post, Wednesday, Trump complained about what he called Democrat bills and whistles in the stop gap measure, and he even threatened any Republicans who backed the plan. His Republican allies have also criticized the deal, as well as House Speaker Mike Johnson, who negotiated the plan for giving into what they felt were too many demands from Democrats.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ELI CRANE (R-AZ): It's a complete monstrosity. Yes, no, I don't think it was handled well at all, but it's kind of par for the course for this town.

REP. CHIP ROY (R-TX): And we've now added 330 billion by my count, in deficit spending, unpaid for. It's just -- it's just -- I said earlier, we're profoundly unserious on spending.

REP. TIM BURCHETT (R-TN): They got a bunch of garbage they want to pass, so they'll attach emergency things to it like for the hurricane relief or the farmers or what have you. To me, it's gutless.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And to make matters worse, Donald Trump is now demanding lawmakers find a way to raise the national debt ceiling this year. That gives lawmakers less than two days to come up with a new plan, address Trump's demands and somehow keep the government funded into March. Well, as we mentioned, tariffs are a central reason for the economic uncertainty here in the U.S. and around the globe.

Donald Trump has promised specific tariffs against China, Canada and Mexico, with more general threats against countries that run afoul of his administration. A new report from the Congressional Budget Office predicts us tariffs plus retaliation from trading partners would be a drag on economic growth. It also says tariffs would make consumer goods and the assets used to produce them more expensive, with lower income households feeling the most impact.

And I spoke earlier with Ryan Patel, a Senior Fellow from the Drucker School of Management at Claremont Graduate University. And I asked him what Americans should be bracing for with Trump's economic policies.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RYAN PATEL, SENIOR FELLOW, DRUCKER SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT: If you think about his first term, you have to look at what tariffs means to him and to how he used it. It's a tactic. It's a tool. It's a negotiation tool. And at this time, it's a little more broader, Rosemary. You think about, he's talking about India, he's talking about across all kinds of countries. And really, the main question here, it becomes, what does the other countries do back to the U.S. consumer?

And that is still unknown. You kind of assume that there's going to be a higher rate of cost of goods sold, which then increases the prices for consumers. Then, to your point, causes it to be more expensive. It causes kind of this ripple effect to other businesses. And I think many of it is, you know, how resilient can be. And so, we've seen from the Trump presidency before that there is this talk that doesn't necessarily -- he's going to come through, how big it can be.

So, I'm kind of a wait and see approach, to see how heavy handed will it be, and what kind of concessions are there. Is it a marginal or is it really heavy? To your point, to where, you know, Mexico and Canada are getting a little more nervous. Does that make sense or not? You know, we'll see.

CHURCH: So generally, How worried should Americans be about rising inflation due to tariffs or anything else?

PATEL: I think the rising inflation is real, with or without tariffs, to be very honest, tariffs, but the actual tariffs makes it even worse. You know, the question becomes, how it is. I think Jerome Powell put it when you put only two rate cuts next year. Should put you on notice that everything is not back just yet or to that degree. And so, anything on top of that would then become, you know, if you have tariffs, does that mean no rate then, right?

Does that mean, you know, where is it going to be the growth? And so, to me, there was already some uncertainty within the market and investment world when it comes to the Fed alone. You add the policy on top of that. It does provide some filter to that and then maybe Jerome Powell was trying to get ahead of it, but I don't really necessarily think that he was planning to put the two rate cuts because of Trump's policy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And you can hear the rest of my interview with Ryan Patel, including his thoughts on the looming threat of a U.S. government shutdown coming up next hour.

Israel has launched deadly airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen, hitting ports and energy infrastructure in the capital Sana'a. Houthi officials say at least nine people were killed and three others injured in those strikes. Strikes come just hours after the Iran- backed militant group launched its latest attack on Israel.

The IDF says a missile launch from Yemen was intercepted early Thursday morning in central Israel. However, the Houthis have not claimed responsibility for the strike. Tensions between Israel and the Houthis have escalated since the war in Gaza started last year.

A court session will soon begin in southern France, where verdicts are expected in what's considered one of the darkest cases in the country's recent history.

[02:10:07]

Prosecutors say Dominique Pelicot organized the mass rape of his wife, Gisele for almost 10 years. Drugging her and inviting more than 50 men to assault her at their home. CNN's Melissa Bell has details. MELISSA BELL, CNN PARIS CORRESPONDENT: The verdict is due on Thursday in the Gisele Pelicot rape trial. A trial that has gripped not only people here in France, but well beyond the borders of the country as well. A mass rape trial at the center of which was Gisele Pelicot's remarkable decision to waive her anonymity and therefore those of her alleged rapists. 50 of them have been present in court for more than 3-1/2 months now.

One 51st man still on the run. Police say there are other men in some of the videos that were taken by her husband that haven't been identified. Many of the videos shot by Dominique Pelicot shown in court over the months and at the heart of the sentences that are being sought. He faces 20 years in jail, many of the other men as well. Some of the sentences requested are down to four years.

The point of Gisele Pelicot, she said, making waving her anonymity, was the idea that shame should change camps. And that, given the attention that this trial has had certainly seems to have been the case, regardless of what sentences may be handed down on Thursday.

Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.

CHURCH: Russian President Vladimir Putin will address the nation in his annual press conference today, but it's unclear whether he'll talk about the assassination of a top general in the streets of Moscow. Russian officials have detained a man who allegedly confessed to planting the explosive device that killed Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov and his aide on Tuesday.

CNN's Matthew Chance brings us the latest.

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MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On Russian T.V. news that Moscow police have already detained a suspected bomber. This 29-year-old Uzbek citizen arrested in a village outside the capital, has now confessed, according to prosecutors to planting the explosive device that killed Igor Kirillov, one of Russia's top generals and his assistant.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): During interrogation, he explained that he was recruited by Ukrainian special services. Then arrived in Moscow and received an improvised explosive device. He placed it on an electric scooter, which he parked at the entrance of the apartment building where Igor Kirillov lived.

CHANCE (voice-over): Video released by the Russian security services purports to show the suspect setting up a surveillance camera in a car outside. The camera is said to have live streamed the attack to Ukrainian intelligence, which has indeed claimed responsibility for the killing.

The suspects then shown on video, possibly under duress, saying he was promised $100,000 and a European passport for in his words, pressing the button. But the bombing on the streets of Moscow is only the latest in a series of assassinations of prominent figures supporting Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, starting with Darya Dugina, an outspoken advocate of the conflict, and daughter of a pro Kremlin nationalist killed in a car bombing in August 2022.

Ukraine denied involvement, but the shooting just last week of Mikhail Shatsky, a Russian missile developer outside Moscow, was orchestrated by Ukrainian intelligence, according to a CNN source in Kyiv. As was the car bombing in November of Valery Trankovsky, a senior Russian naval officer in Crimea. There have been numerous other killings too, as Ukraine steps up assassinations far from the front lines, cementing a reputation for vengeance.

Matthew Chance, CNN, London.

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CHURCH: Here's what an expert told CNN earlier about Moscow's reaction to the attack.

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IAN BREMMER, PRESIDENT, EURASIA GROUP AND GZERO MEDIA: Let's look at this on the other side, the Russians have been doing this at scale. Instead of $100,000 in a passport, they're using Telegram and they're offering 50 euros to deface a monument, you know, 500 to 5000 to commit arson. All sorts of other crimes. And they're doing it not just in Ukraine, but also in the Baltic states, in the Nordic states, in Poland.

I mean, these are NATO allies, right? So, you have all sorts of asymmetric warfare where these countries are using disaffected people, they're paying them off, and they're engaging in criminal acts. In this case, you have the Ukrainians directly involved in assassination. Did the Ukrainians feel emboldened here? I think they feel a level of desperation because they're losing land because they are facing a NATO alliance that has been paying a little less attention to them given the Middle East war, for example, and other things going on, like the President-elect Trump and his election.

[02:15:16]

And they also know that the longer this war goes on, the harder it is -- it is becoming for them. We've seen on several different occasions in the past weeks, Ukraine engaging in activities that they did not in earlier months years of the war, in part because they're losing territory at home, and also in part because they know that the push to start negotiations is going to begin very quickly after January 20, and they want to be in a better negotiating position.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is in Brussels right now for a European Council meeting in the coming hours. He met NATO Chief Mark Rutte on Wednesday, who said the alliance must make sure Ukraine is in the best position to negotiate whenever they begin peace talks. Meanwhile, Ukraine says it has developed a laser weapon that can shoot down aircraft from more than two kilometers away. CNN cannot verify these claims, but experts tell CNN the existence of the weapon is possible and they could be effective against Russian drones, which have often wreaked havoc in Ukrainian cities.

Still to come. A flurry of diplomatic meetings in the Middle East as negotiators push for a Gaza cease fire deal, the latest from the region coming up next.

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CHURCH: Health officials in Gaza say Israeli attacks killed dozens of Palestinians on Wednesday, adding new urgency to the revived ceasefire negotiations. U.S. officials joined by mediators from Egypt and Qatar are making intense efforts to advance the talks, and even Hamas appears to be optimistic about a potential deal.

More now from CNN's Jeremy Diamond in Jerusalem.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, there is optimism in the air, significant diplomatic activity in the region, and clear sense of momentum towards a potential hostage and cease fire deal between Israel and Hamas. But will there actually be a deal? That is indeed the question at this moment, as we are seeing a number of officials arriving in the Middle East to try and get this deal across the finish line.

The latest arrival in the region appears to be the CIA Director Bill Burns, who has been the top U.S. official in these negotiations for months now. He often travels and arrives in the region at critical junctures in the process, and this does indeed appear to be one of those critical moments, yet again, following visits by the National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan last week, President Biden's top Middle East adviser, Brett McGurk, also in the region.

And of course, we've seen an Israeli delegation, Hamas delegations in both Cairo as well as in Doha, Qatar.

[02:20:02]

And accompanying this flurry of diplomatic activity, you also have the rhetoric. We've heard optimism from the Americans, from the Israelis, from all sides really saying that they believe that we are closer than ever to a deal. Hamas also joining that optimistic rhetoric yesterday in a statement saying that they believe a deal is, "possible." A Hamas source also saying that the state of talks is "positive and optimistic."

But they are also offering a note of caution, as so many others involved in the process are as well. Hamas saying that a deal is possible, as long as Israel does not continue to make additional last- minute demands in this process. And all sides are really urging caution, even as they are sounding an optimistic note because we have seen so many times before, these two sides get very, very close to a potential agreement, but ultimately a deal not falling through. But officials in the region believe that conditions are now at their ripest for an agreement to actually take place. And there's no question that it is very much needed, as we are watching in Gaza over the last 24 hours, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, 38 people have been killed. More than 200 have been injured. And of course, the humanitarian conditions in Gaza certainly not improving.

Much needed aid would get in if a cease fire were to go in place. And then, of course, there are those 100 hostages still held in the Gaza Strip, about half of whom Israel believes are still alive. Their fate, of course, also hanging in the balance.

Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Jerusalem.

CHURCH: A new Human Rights Watch report is accusing Israel of committing crimes against humanity in Gaza by deliberately depriving Palestinians of enough water to survive. The rights group alleges Israel is intentionally destroying water infrastructure, blocking aid and obstructing repairs and "deprived the majority of the more than two million Palestinians living in Gaza of access to even that bare minimum amount of water, which has contributed to death and widespread disease."

The group says Israel's policy "amounts to an act of genocide." The report says there's been a particularly devastating impact on Gaza's infants, pregnant and breastfeeding women and people with disabilities. CNN has reached out to the Israeli military and COGAT, the Israeli agency responsible for approving aid into Gaza, reached out for comment for those organizations on the report and is awaiting a response.

I want to turn now to Ghana where the country's supreme court has rejected two challenges to an anti LGBTQ rights bill, clearing the way for it to become law. It would impose prison sentences on members of the LGBTQ community and their supporters. The President had delayed signing it pending the court rulings. CNN's Larry Madowo has more.

LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: If it is signed into law, this bill will be one of the strictest anti LGBT laws anywhere in Africa. And that is saying something. Though its name is much more innocent sounding, the human sexual rights and family values bill, that's its official name, and it was supported by Christian, Muslim and traditional leaders in Ghana, it passed unanimously in Parliament.

That explains this, how popular it is, and many in Ghana are supportive of the Supreme Court essentially deciding that they cannot stop it until it's officially a law. I've been reporting in Ghana twice this year and I know that many people support this bill, but activists, those that work in the LGBT human rights they say, even before it has become a law, there are already serious consequences.

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ABENA TAKYIWAA MANUH, SENIOR FELLOW, CENTER FOR DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE: It is a sad day, and it has implications for the LGBT community. Even without the passage of the bill, people have been attacking members of a certain community. And I think that just this pronouncement, this kind of formalism, this resort to constitutionalism, actually put at risk the life and health of certain members of the community and of course, some of us who are human rights defenders.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MADOWO: Ghana's outgoing President Nana Akufo-Addo has less than three weeks left in office. So, if he does not sign it, he would kick the can down the road and leave that as a problem for the incoming administration of the President-elect John Mahama. Amnesty West Africa, asking him not to sign it into law, saying it is not just infringing the rights of one group, but on the rights of all.

But one of the lawmakers who was the biggest supporters of this bill helped bring it to Parliament. Sam George tweeted that it is done to God be the glory. Gay sex in Ghana was already punishable with up to three years in prison, but this makes it's even harder to even identify as LGBTI in Ghana, it criminalizes the promotion of LGBT rights in the country, and that is why it's getting with -- it's getting a lot of criticism.

[02:25:08]

However, the finance ministry in Ghana had already warned that if this were to become law, Ghana risked losing out on $3.8 billion from the World Bank, another $3 billion from the IMF. These are funds the country badly needs for an economic revival. But for the man on the street, they think it needs to become law.

Larry Madowo, CNN, Nairobi.

CHURCH: We are learning more about the background of a teenage girl who killed two people at her school in Wisconsin before taking her own life.

Plus, the U.S. Supreme Court holds the fate of TikTok in its hands. Why the app could avoid a ban in the U.S. depending on the outcome at an emergency hearing next month.

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CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. A source tells CNN that Israel's Prime Minister has instructed the country's military to remain in the area of Syria's Mount Hermon until the end of next year. Israel captured the strategically important mountain after the fall of Bashar al- Assad's regime earlier this month, initially characterizing it as a temporary security measure. However, Syria's new leader and other Arab countries are accusing Israel of a land wrap.

Mount Hermon overlooks Lebanon, Syria and Israel, and is just over 35 kilometers. That's about 22 miles from Damascus, putting the Syrian capital within artillery range. Well as a new era dawns in Syria after the fall of the Assad regime, the United Nations Refugee Agency says one million Syrians are expected to return to their home country in the first six months of 2025. The UNHCR warns that more than 90 percent of the population will require humanitarian aid to survive. It has also unveiled a recovery plan for the war-torn country seeking more than $310 million to address the critical needs of returning Syrian refugees.

And joining me now from Amman Jordan is, Rula Amin, senior communication advisor and spokesperson with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, regional bureau for the Middle East and North Africa. Appreciate you joining us.

[02:30:00]

RULA AMIN, SENIOR COMMUNICATION ADVISER, UNHCR: Good morning.

CHURCH: So your organization, the UNHCR, expects about one million Syrian refugees will return to their country in the first half of 2025. So how will Syria cope with their return, coming as the new government is trying to establish stability in the country in the wake of the fall of Bashar al-Assad?

AMIN: Well, let me clarify something. This figure, one million refugees returning to Syria in six months is something that we expect to happen in the best-case scenario of how things will unfold in Syria. So, this is hinged on a peaceful transition of power, stabilizing of the security situation, which is very fluid and fragile right now. People as refugees around the world, especially in neighboring countries around Syria, are monitoring this to see how safe will it be for them to go back, will their rights be respected, basic respect for human rights and protection for their land and property, and the prevalence of law and order.

At the same time, they know that the country had suffered a lot of damage, a lot of destruction in the past 14 years. More than 90 percent of the population in Syria need humanitarian assistance. So people are also watching, is the international community going to step in and support Syrians to rebuild their country. Based on all these different factors and things work in the best-case scenarios, so all these factors, we tick the box on all these items, we expect a million Syrians to return.

But if that doesn't happen, people cannot just pack their stuff and take their children and go back to uncertainty. They want to be assured, and they want to have the confidence that when they go back, they will be safe, their rights will be respected, and that they will have a chance to work, to make a living, to send their kids to school. These assurances will only come through a peaceful transition and through the international community's commitment to help Syrians rebuild Syria.

CHURCH: And if this happens, this return of the one million Syrians in these first few months of the new year, they will of course require an immense amount of resources to settle them. How can they all be housed, fed, and looked after when there's already needs, great needs when it comes to humanitarian aid?

AMIN: Yes, there are great needs. A lot of the basic infrastructure in Syria, like electricity, water systems, schools, health services, hospitals have been destroyed and most important, their own homes have been destroyed. So to be able to pick up, they will need a lot of support from us as humanitarian agencies, but also from the world to help them rebuild. They need shelter. So if they go back and their house is destroyed, they want to make sure that agencies like UNHCR will be able to have the resources to help them rebuild it, to give them plastic sheeting to cover the windows and doors, and later on to rebuild. That the international community will invest in electricity, in water.

So these are very, very basic needs. And the main strength, the main element that Syrians have to be able to do this, is themselves. They have endured so much suffering and hardship in the past 14 years, more than 13 million Syrians had been displaced out of their homes. They had to flee some inside the country, some outside the country. And yet, we saw a lot of resilience, a lot of pooled power to protect their children and to try to give them a future.

Now, they have so many hopes that this trend, this change in Syria, will mean an end to their displacement and end to their suffering, and end to all kind of hardship. However, mixed with these hopes, they have also many, many questions. How safe is Syria going to be? They are worried. Is there going to be internal fighting or not? Will the new regime be democratic? Will it respect people's rights? So before packing up and leaving the host communities and the host countries they lived in, they want to be able to be, let's say, confident that they won't have to move again and to flee again if they return.

And that's why what we say is also very important. Every refugee has the right to go back to its country whenever this refugee chooses to be so. And when they do that, we are there to help them. However, we appeal to all these countries that hosted Syrian refugees in the past 14 years to be patient. Please be patient with them. Give them this space; give them the time to be able to make an informed decision and a voluntary decision to go back. Please don't force them to go back. That's against international law.

[02:35:00]

Many people think that because the regime of the President Bashar al- Assad had fallen, it means all kind of security concerns that Syrians had had disappeared. Now, many of these security concerns had disappeared, but other risks are emerging and these risks could be addressed and could be eliminated. But people want to be assured before they make that step

CHURCH: Rula Amin, thank you so much for joining us. Appreciate it.

Investigators in Wisconsin are looking into a possible connection between a 20-year-old Californian man and Monday's school shooter. And new details are emerging about the 15-year-old female student who police say killed a teacher and another student before killing herself. CNN's Whitney Wild has the story.

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WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Families of students at Abundant Life Christian School returning to the scene of a horrific crime, retrieving belongings, the first step in a long road to healing.

MACKYNZIE WILSON, STUDENT AT ABUNDANT LIFE CHRISTIAN SCHOOL: It's going to be hard going into the school again after all the like, fear and trauma.

WILD (voice-over): Mackynzie Wilson had a locker next to the shooter, 15-year-old Natalie Rupnow.

WILSON: She was really quiet. She didn't really have any friends and like, she just seemed really lonely and she was just like, it wasn't like she was trying to like fit in. She seemed very like content being alone, I guess.

WILD (voice-over): This as new details are emerging about Rupnow who opened fire at a private Christian school in Madison, Wisconsin Monday, killing two and wounding six others. According to court documents obtained by CNN, her parents married and divorced twice within the span of about 10 years. The documents show a complicated arrangement with Natalie moving between homes every two to three days.

Ultimately, her father, Jeff, had primary custody with regular visits from her mother, and they lived roughly 40 minutes apart. The documents also show that Natalie attended therapy and her parents were encouraged to join her. Neither Jeff nor Melissa Rupnow have responded to CNN's multiple requests for comment. But court family documents say at one point, reported a generally positive co-parenting relationship.

Police say Rupnow's parents, Jeff and Melissa are cooperating with the investigation. According to police, Rupnow used a handgun in the attack, but it's unclear how she obtained the weapon. A Facebook photo posted by Rupnow's father in August shows her at a shooting range. A comment from her dad on the photo says they joined the range in the spring and "We have been loving every second of it."

She's also seen wearing a KMFDM shirt, a German industrial rock band whose lyrics were cited by the shooters at the Columbine High School massacre in 1999 in Colorado. The band at the time condemned that horrific attack. The band's music also accompanied a TikTok post from Dylan Butler shortly before he opened fire a school in Iowa in January, killing a sixth grader and wounding seven. Police say they're looking into Rupnow's activity online. Experts say any social media footprint left behind by Rupnow is crucial to the investigation.

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: In order to get to that motive, investigators will have to rely on witnesses, any writing she left behind, and a deep dive into her social media history to see if there's any indication why she conducted this heinous act.

WILD (voice-over): A heinous act that took the life of a teacher who Wilson says was popular among students.

WILSON: She really loved her kids and she really, really loved everyone at our school, and she would've done anything for them. Looking back, I wish I had gone -- I could have gone back and given her a hug.

WILD: Mackynzie's mom, Lindsey, went to school here too. She started at the school when she was just eight-years-old. And what is so clear talking to Mackynzie and Lindsey and the other families, is that this is a school with a really strong sense of community. They are very close knit. They have generations of families have gone to this school, and what binds them is their faith, and they say they are clinging to that closely tonight.

Whitney Wild, CNN, Madison, Wisconsin.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: The U.S. supreme court has agreed to hear arguments over the potential ban of social media app TikTok set to happen in less than a month. Lawmakers previously demanded the app's Chinese owners sell their interests in the business to a non-Chinese owner due to national security concerns. Otherwise, the app would be banned across the country. TikTok and some users argue the move would violate their First Amendment rights. The Supreme Court will hear the case on January 10th. It could make its ruling just days ahead of the scheduled ban set for January 19th.

And we'll be right next.

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[02:41:33]

CHURCH: North America has one less natural threat to worry about. Five years ago, so-called murder hornets were first spotted in Washington State near the Canadian border. On Wednesday, state and federal agricultural officials announced there has not been a sighting in three years, declaring it eradicated. Experts in Canada say the hornet has been wiped out there as well. U.S. officials said the effort included help from residents who agreed to place traps on their properties and report sightings. The giant hornets threatened native insects and could wipe out a honey beehive in 90 minutes.

I want to thank you so much for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church. "World Sport" is coming up next. Then I'll be back in about 15 minutes with more "CNN Newsroom." Do stick around.

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[02:45:00]

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