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CNN International: Fani Willis Disqualified From Prosecuting Trump; Suspect Luigi Mangione Waives Extradition To New York; All 51 Men In Pelicot Abuse Case Found Guilty. Aired 11a-12p ET

Aired December 19, 2024 - 11:00   ET

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

[11:00:00]

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.

RAHEL SOLOMON, HOST, "CNN NEWSROOM": Hello, and welcome to our viewers from around the world. I'm Rahel Solomon live in New York.

I want to get straight to our breaking news this hour, and we have lots of breaking news, but let's begin in Georgia, where the Court of Appeals has now disqualified the prosecutor in the 2020 election interference case against Donald Trump. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is no longer allowed to prosecute the case. The court says it has found significant appearance of impropriety, but is not dismissing the case entirely. Now, for months now, Trump and some of his co-defendants have been trying to get Willis disqualified because of a romantic relationship she had with Nathan Wade, who is a special prosecutor that Willis hired to help handle the case.

Let's get straight to CNN's Katelyn Polantz, who is tracking this breaking news from our Washington D.C. bureau. Katelyn, you've obviously been following this story from the very beginning. This is a pretty big development. Help us understand the decision.

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: A big development, because District Attorney Fani Willis, she is the person leading this case, the heart of the prosecution office against Donald Trump in this racketeering case, and by saying that she should be disqualified, that's the finding of the Georgia Court of Appeals today, that effectively (ph) puts into motion removing her from the top of this case.

So, that creates a situation for Trump where he should be very happy with, he wanted this, because it would effectively end the case against him for moving forward in any capacity in the coming months, even years. It would take a great amount of time to replace her. And if there is somebody that comes in to replace her, they may not even want to continue this case against Donald Trump in Georgia. So, that is the big impact here.

But, Rahel, it's important too what the Court of Appeals is doing. They're the intermediary court. So, there is another court in Georgia, another appellate court in Georgia that can still look at this and make another decision. What this court did today, though, is they said the trial judge, he got it wrong when he looked at Fani Willis, and whether there was enough reason for the public not to trust her to move this case forward.

What this court said is, with the trial judge looking at a significant appearance of impropriety caused by Willis because of her relationship with Nathan Wade, other things she was doing when she was prosecuting this case, that's enough, even if they don't look at exactly what she was doing with Wade, the money exchanges that she says she wasn't benefiting from, just the idea of significant appearance of impropriety is enough under the law in Georgia to cause her to be taken off this case, disqualified from prosecuting Donald Trump.

SOLOMON: Yeah. It's a really stunning development. I mean, viewers might remember the televised hearings that were part of this, the televised sort of trial proceedings that were a part of all of this.

Katelyn, give us a sense of the bigger picture with the other criminal cases against Trump.

POLANTZ: Yeah. Rahel, this was the last criminal case that was really hanging out there about what would happen next. So, there were two federal criminal cases against Trump that are now dismissed while he is in the presidency and very likely to dismiss for all time. One of them is the classified documents case in Florida, but the other was closely linked to what the allegations here were against Trump. That other case in federal court was the January 6 case against Trump. Willis had built her own set of allegations about what happened after the 2020 election against Trump and several others in what she said was a racketeering conspiracy that they should all be tried for.

This case was still existing in the court system, even though it was essentially frozen, paused for several months, waiting for this and other decisions by the courts in Georgia, and now with this decision, this was the big one that we were waiting for, with the court saying Willis should be disqualified. That puts this basically dead in the water. It's not even frozen anymore. This is just -- this is a throwing the entire case into disarray. So, those three ongoing criminal cases against Trump, they essentially are not hanging over him as he heads into the presidency now.

SOLOMON: OK. Katelyn Polantz, thanks for helping us understand it.

I want to continue the conversation now and bring in former Federal Prosecutor and former Assistant U.S. Attorney, Gene Rossi. Gene, good to see you. It's been a long time since we've chatted here. Help us understand this decision. I mean, she is being disqualified, as I understood it, the underlying case remain.

[11:05:00]

But, as our reporter, Katelyn Polantz, just pointed out, that seems really hard to see happening. I mean, what do you think?

GENE ROSSI, FORMER U.S. FEDERAL PROSECUTOR, & FORMER ASSISTANT U.S. ATTORNEY, EASTERN DISTRICT OF VIRGINIA: Well, Katelyn did a great job, and I'm going to try to supplement. But, December 19th, this is Christmas come early for President-elect Donald Trump. In my view, this case is dead, and I'll explain in a minute.

The sad part, though, is when this case was indicted, the evidence against -- allegedly against then-candidate Donald Trump, I thought was relatively strong. I think they charged way too many people. They unnecessarily threw out a net. They should have kept it very tight, maybe not just against Donald Trump, but maybe less than 10 people. So, they made a strategic error there that caused a lot of problems. But, the case itself, I thought, had justification and significant evidence.

Let me talk about my Department of Justice states. In June of 1989, I remember this like it was yesterday. I was being offered a job as a trial attorney with the Justice Department, and this crusty, senior career servant said to me the following. When you are a federal prosecutor, these are his words, you have to be pure than Caesar's wife. And what this appellate court basically said is Fani Willis was not abiding by that advice that I got in June of 1989. This case, in the way she handled it and the way Nathan Wade testified, I think it was just terrible. And what I -- I got to read the opinion, though, Rahel. Did they get bothered by the testimony of Ms. Willis and also Mr. Wade? Were they bothered by that? I'd like to know if that's in the opinion or implied.

But, the last thing is, getting back to my first point, this case is dead. It's going to be reassigned to another prosecutor, probably, if the Supreme Court or the highest Court of Georgia agrees with the appellate court. If it gets reassigned to another prosecutor, they're going to kill the case. It's gone.

SOLOMON: Yeah. And just remind us, Gene, I mean, some of what -- I mean the court is now saying was, in fact, improper for a prosecutor. I mean, how much of this was the relationship with Nathan Wade, the financial aspect of the relationship, versus some of the comments that Fani Willis had made publicly at sort of church settings, but in a public fashion about the case that had come under fire as well?

ROSSI: That's an excellent question. I use the word gestalt. There is this umbrella of things that happened in this case that caused it to have a bad cloud over it, the number of defendants charged, her statements to the press at a church setting, a religious setting, the relationship with Mr. Wade alleged. And frankly, I'm not alone in saying that her testimony and his testimony were, how should I say, troublesome. And I got to do a shout out for the defense attorney. I think it is Ashleigh Merchant, and I apologize if I mispronounce her name, but the defense attorney who brought this to light, she gets a gold star as a defense attorney because she drilled down. She got messages, texts, and she really caused this thing to elevate to the appellate court. And I hope I got her name right, and I apologize if I do not.

SOLOMON: Yeah. I mean, it's an interesting point, because we here at CNN had covered those hearings, televised. I mean, we covered it moment to moment. It was sort of those interactions with Fani Willis and the defense lawyer where you saw Fani Willis seem to get a bit agitated, in a way that perhaps you don't often see district attorneys get because they're usually on the other side of questioning.

But, let me ask, because this was an appeal, what happens now? I mean, what is the likelihood that perhaps Fulton County can appeal this decision, or is this basically over?

ROSSI: Oh, you brought up something that I forgot to mention. If I were Fani Willis, I would say I fought the good fight. I'm going to follow the advice that was given to me in June of 1989 and I'm going to say, you know what, to restore public confidence in this prosecution, I will recuse myself and my office voluntarily from this case. That's what I would do if I were the o lead prosecutor at Fulton County. If they go to the Supreme Court, they're going to cause a treasure trove of problems. One, they could lose the appeal. Two, if they get an opinion, it's going to be ugly. If the Supreme Court reverses the appellate court, you can guarantee they're going to reverse, but they're going to trash her office, guaranteed.

SOLOMON: Gene, we don't have much time, but I really am just wondering if you might answer this quickly, if you can.

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If Fani Willis had resigned previously, is there a chance that this case would still be alive today?

ROSSI: It would be alive today. If she had said way back in the first inning of this exhausting saga, if she has said, you know what, for the good of the office, for the good of the office, I'm going to recuse Mr. Wade, I guess, went off into the night. I'm going to get off this case. I'm going to get attorneys who have no involvement in my office, a wall. I'll get attorneys that are not poisoned, if they will, under what they call the Yam Seng doctrine, fruit of the poisonous tree, get some attorneys in my office to handle this case. They would have to start a new ab initio de novo, as they say, but at least you would store public confidence. And if you had a Republican prosecutor in her office, make him or her the lead. That's -- that would make it even more believable in the eyes of the public.

But, to fight this like that, this is a losing battle for her at best. The opinion by the appellate court is terrible, and I go back to the Supreme Court or the higher court in Georgia if they reverse and say she can stay on the case. That's a big if. That opinion is going to be ugly.

SOLOMON: Well, we'll have to leave it here. Gene, always appreciate your insights and perspective and the way you can sort of make it all really interesting. Thank you.

All right. Well, the man accused of murdering the CEO of UnitedHealthcare is being extradited to New York. A short time ago, Luigi Mangione appeared before a judge in a Pennsylvania court. He faces charges in Pennsylvania and New York. He waived his right to a preliminary hearing and agreed not to fight extradition to New York. The Manhattan district attorney has charged Mangione with first-degree murder over the killing of Brian Thompson.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALVIN BRAGG, MANHATTAN DISTRICT ATTORNEY: We have wide year process in place. I have faith in our jury system to select 12 people can be fair and impartial, but we'll move forward, and that's something well down the road, but we'll be ready when that time comes.

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SOLOMON: And joining us now from Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania is CNN's Danny Freeman. So, Danny, what's the latest now?

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the latest now is Mangione is already on his way out of Pennsylvania, heading to New York to face down those intense murder charges that we've been talking about so much for the past 48 hours.

But, I got to tell you, Rahel, being inside of that courtroom and in and around Hollidaysburg for the past couple of days, if it weren't for the massive amounts of media, the massive amounts of law enforcement, and of course, Luigi Mangione himself being inside that courtroom, frankly, what we saw earlier was a pretty normal proceeding. We saw that first proceeding on the issue of his preliminary hearing for those Pennsylvania charges. Those are the lesser ones when it comes to those two felony charges, one being a gun charge and then three misdemeanors.

His attorney got up there and said, listen, at this point, we're going to waive this preliminary hearing. We feel that we've got enough discovery at this point to proceed forward with that. And Luigi said, yes, I understand, when the judge asked in that case if he understood that he was waiving that particular right to a preliminary hearing. That was pushed down the line. Then we waited for about an hour inside of that courtroom because the attorney for Mangione, also the DA and the judge, they were all conferring in judges' chambers, really to bang out the language on this waiver of extradition. And it was interesting, Rahel, because during the course of that hour, Luigi Mangione was sitting by himself at the defendant's table, and we really got a chance to look at him, observe him, as he was sitting there waiting.

And I'll note that I was here in the same courthouse last week for his first court appearance, only a couple hours after he was caught in that Altoona, McDonald's. Then he seemed frazzled, Rahel. He seemed uncomfortable in that moment. Today -- and well, then, of course, I should note then there was that outburst in front of court the following day. Today, though, Rahel, he seemed calm. At times he was smiling. At times he was chatting with the sheriff's deputies who were guarding him. So, it was interesting to have that hour to just see what he was doing during the course of a moment where no one was really attending to him or focusing on him specifically.

Then the judge, all the attorneys, came back for that second extradition hearing. The judge again asked, do you understand that you're waiving extradition? Do you understand that you're basically giving up that right in this particular case? His attorney turned to Mangione and said, do you understand? Is this what you want to do? And Luigi Mangione said, yes.

And then, Rahel, we all exited the courtroom. I headed out back to the spot where we assumed the basically handoff what happened to NYPD.

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We thought it might take a little while, but really it was just a matter of minutes. After court was over, we saw Luigi Mangione go into a car with New York plates, driven by NYPD officers, and off he was. That was as simple as it was, and that was the conclusion of this Pennsylvania chapter for now at least of the story of Luigi Mangione, Rahel.

SOLOMON: No. It's a great point. I mean, it may be the conclusion of the Pennsylvania story, but it's just the beginning of the New York story. So, what happens once he gets to New York?

FREEMAN: Well, that's the interesting part, Rahel. So, as far as we know at the moment, Luigi Mangione is in the air, flying back to New York, and we understand, according to Brynn Gingras and Kara Scannell, that his first stop is actually going to be federal court later today to potentially face new charges, federal charges, in addition to that 11-count grand jury handed down indictment that was announced earlier this week. So, that's likely what we're going to see first, him appear at the federal courthouse down in downtown Manhattan. So, yeah, the New York proceedings are about to get underway, and you can bet, they're going to get a lot more complicated.

The one thing I'll note, Rahel, is that the attorney representing Luigi Mangione, in the courthouse behind me, was always throughout all of this, Tom Dickey, his Pennsylvania attorney. That's the gentleman that we've seen on our air for the past few weeks, but now we know that he is going to be really handed off to the New York defense attorney that he has been -- he has retained, basically, that we learned over the past few days, and then she is going to be handling the case moving forward.

And you can tell that there is a lot of work cut out, not only because DA Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, is saying that they're moving forward with this 11-count indictment that was handed down by the grand jury, but now also new challenges potentially with a federal indictment coming as well. Rahel.

SOLOMON: Yeah. Danny Freeman, thank you.

Gisele Pelicot is seeing justice in court after a long nightmare. Her ex-husband, Dominique, and 50 other men have been found guilty in a mass rape trial that has shocked France and the world.

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SOLOMON: Pelicot there loudly acclaimed by supporters and mobbed by the media, as she left court earlier. Her ex-husband, Dominique, was sentenced to 20 years in prison. That is the maximum term allowed for repeatedly raping his wife and enlisting strangers to do the same over the course of a decade. Gisele Pelicot waived her right to anonymity at the start of the trial, saying that she wanted the horrors of the case made public, to give other victims of sexual violence the courage to speak up.

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GISELE PELICOT, FORMER WIFE OF CONVICTED RAPIST DOMINIQUE PELICOT (Interpreted): I'm thinking finally of the unrecognized victims of stories which often unfold in the shadows. I want you to know we share the same fight. I would like to express my most profound gratitude to everyone who supported me throughout this lengthy trial. Your testimonies moved me, and I do strength from them to return every day during these long days of hearings.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: Dominique Pelicot's lawyers, meantime, says that he may appeal, but has not yet made a decision. And Gisele Pelicot's readiness to go public over the treatment that she has faced has turned her into an icon in the fight against sexual violence.

CNN's Melissa Bell has more now from Avignon, France.

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MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Gisele Pelicot, who has been admirable throughout, they celebrated for her courage, her humility from the very start and from far across the world, it was her decision, of course, to make it public that made such a difference that allowed a number of things to happen. First of all, the accusers and right to anonymity to be waived, and then the videos to be shown in court, all of that has meant that the impact of this has really gone far beyond the borders of France.

As to what actually happened here in court today, there were large crowds outside, as there have been almost every day for the nearly four months of this trial, men and women who come to support Gisele Pelicot again, as she arrived, shouting, Merci Madame to her arrival, and again as she left, thanking her for what she has done by achieving this. Whatever the sentence is handed down today, the fact that the trial was made public has led to this sort of societal reckoning, the question of how this number of men could have come into someone's home, found an unconscious woman, and not thought to raise the alarm or alert anyone or turn away themselves, is remarkable, and it's a very uncomfortable question that's really been placed before wider society.

We heard those sentences handed down. The only man who did receive the maximum sentence being sought was Dominique Pelicot himself.

[11:20:00]

All of the others received lesser sentences, as you mentioned, and that's led to a great deal of outrage outside the court here today. There were shouts of, rapists, we see you, as proceedings got underway, and when at least one of the men who walked free today because of the suspended sentence walked out, he was jeered fairly violently by the crowd, even as he tried to hide his face.

We also heard beyond the strong words of Gisele Pelicot herself that you played there a moment ago, we also heard from a lawyer representing Dominique Pelicot, the husband, again, the only guilty man here today to be handed the full 20-year sentence. This is what he said.

BEATRICE ZAVARRO, DOMINIQUE PELICOT'S LAWYER (Interpreted): The criminal court of Vaucluse (ph) has given its verdict, sentencing Dominique Pelicot to 20 years in prison. Mr. Pelicot has taken note of the decision, and we are going to take advantage of the delay, which has given us 10 days to decide if we will appeal this decision. At the moment I am speaking to you, no decision has been taken.

BELL: So too do -- does the prosecution, and I think that's going to be really interesting to see what happens in the next 10 days. If the prosecution decides that they feel that some of those sentences have been (inaudible), they can appeal. As you just heard, Dominique Pelicot can also appeal the decision. What that would mean is that this court room, which had a jury of five judges on it, there would now be a second Mazan trial that's been called off, the name of the village not far from Avignon, where these terrible events unfolded, where the Pelicot couple lived. There would be a second Mazan trial, this time in front of a jury.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOLOMON: Up next, the battle to avoid a U.S. government shutdown, the Republican Speaker of the House moving to Plan B after Donald Trump and Elon Musk crashed Plan A. Plus, CNN visits a key border crossing for humanitarian aid into Gaza amid new accusations that Israel is deliberately depriving Palestinians of water, amounting to acts of genocide. We'll be right back.

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SOLOMON: Welcome back. Israel has launched deadly strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen, hours after the Houthis latest attack on Israel. The strikes hit a port and oil facility near the capital, according to Houthi officials. They say that nine people were killed. Israel's military calls it retaliation for Houthi missile and drone attacks on Israel over the past year, most of which were intercepted.

A source tells CNN that Israel's Prime Minister has instructed the military to stay in the area of Syria's Mount Hermon until at least the end of next year. Israel captured the strategic site after Bashar al-Assad's regime fell, initially calling it a temporary security measure.

Meantime, Human Rights Watch is accusing Israel of deliberately and systematically depriving people in Gaza of water. It says that that amounts to acts of genocide.

[11:25:00]

Israel rejects the accusations as lies. And CNN just visited the Gaza side of an Israeli-controlled border

crossing. That's a key entry point for crucial humanitarian aid.

Here is what Jeremy Diamond found.

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JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: We are on the Gaza side of the Kerem Shalom crossing, where you are seeing pallets of humanitarian aid being offloaded here. But, the problem is this aid simply isn't getting to the people of Gaza in the quantities that are needed. Humanitarian aid agencies say that the Israeli government and the Israeli military are to blame for that, not facilitating the safe distribution of aid. The Israelis deny that. They insist that enough aid is getting into Gaza and that they are facilitating that aid. But, I pressed one of the top Israeli officials responsible for getting that aid in on that very question.

DIAMOND: They say that the issues are the Israeli military's unwillingness to facilitate safe distribution of aid.

COL. ABDULLAH HALABI, ISRAELI COORDINATION AND LIAISON ADMINISTRATION: No. The Israeli troops on the Israeli side, just in the last few weeks, facilitated several options in order to enter the aid to the Gazan side.

DIAMOND: Does your role stop at this checkpoint? Do you believe that your role stops at this checkpoint that you're not responsible for how safely the aid can get distributed inside of Gaza?

HALABI: The international community is responsible to deliver the aid from the crossing points to the people of Gaza. It's their responsibility.

DIAMOND: Don't you have a responsibility for making it safe?

HALABI: We facilitated the crossings and the aid. Till the crossing, we inspect the aid. We put it in the platforms, and we encourage the humanitarian community and the organizations to come and to take the aid. The main problem, the main obstacle, is the capabilities distribution.

DIAMOND: Amid that dispute between the aid agencies and the Israeli military, these pallets of aid, they are piling up, and this isn't a theoretical problem. We are seeing that the humanitarian conditions in Gaza, they simply aren't getting better. In fact, there is a lot of chance that it could get worse. With the arrival of winter, the rains, the need for shelter is rising. Respiratory illnesses are rising, and people are sometimes going without food for days. Of course, a ceasefire deal could improve all of this, bringing an enormous flow of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. We know that those negotiations, of course, are ongoing.

Jeremy Diamond, CNN, on the Gaza side of the Kerem Shalom crossing.

(END VIDEOTAPE) SOLOMON: U.S. lawmakers are again in a desperate move to avoid a

government shutdown this Friday. Let's get you up to speed. A bipartisan plan by the Republican House Speaker was tanked after the President-elect slammed it and called the 2023 deal that suspended the debt limit until January, quote, "the most foolish and inept thing ever done by congressional Republicans". Donald Trump ally and tech billionaire, Elon Musk, called the funding plan "criminal". So it's back to the drawing board and a scramble to avoid a Friday shutdown. And the blame game is already underway with one Democrat saying that this is the type of chaos that they expected with the incoming Trump administration.

For the latest, let's go to Sunlen Serfaty, who is on Capitol Hill. So, Sunlen, where does the spending bill go from here? What happens now?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. It's a really great question, Rahel. And as of now, on Capitol Hill, there are many members of Congress who are asking the exact same question. This is a very fluid situation, and there has been a flurry of meetings and private conversations among lawmakers and leadership teams on both sides of the aisle trying to figure out a path forward.

Now, right now, Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, he is meeting with some of his top allies up here on Capitol Hill, and they are discussing a potential new proposal to put forward a new spending package that would, in essence, force Democrats, they hope, to accept a debt limit deal in addition to a very, very narrow spending bill, one that does not have all these added provisions in it, like the last one, that would only have a clean -- it would be a clean debt limit and a mostly clean stopgap, would include some farm aid and disaster aid. But, that likely is not going to satisfy Democrats up on here on Capitol Hill who feel that Republicans reneged on the agreement that was struck when, in essence, a bomb was dropped on the deal last night by President-elect Donald Trump and Elon Musk, frankly.

Here is some of the reaction up here on Capitol Hill, and you can just sense the tone of frustration that is rampant.

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MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I mean, you are frustrated with the President-elect.

SEN. KEVIN CRAMER (R-ND): I'm frustrated with his team to not have engaged sooner than this.

REP. STEVE SCALISE (R-LA): We're not there again.

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We're still having conversations with our members, with a lot of other folks too just to make sure that everybody is on the same page.

SEN. DICK DURBIN (D-IL): Well, at this point, there is no other deal, and this compromise is bipartisan compromise. I think it was sensible. (END VIDEO CLIP)

SERFATY: And what you heard from Senator Durbin there is really important, because this is the message that Democrats today are starting to take, the feeling that this onus to get this solved is on Republicans here, that there was a deal, that they did negotiate it. They had part bipartisan agreement, Rahel, and that's when Republicans reneged, pushed in part by Elon Musk, pushed by President-elect Donald Trump. So, it is a big question mark, how this ends, when it ends. But, the one thing everyone knows is the clock is ticking towards that midnight Friday into Saturday morning deadline for a shutdown.

SOLOMON: Yeah. And as you pointed out, Sunlen, I mean, Musk, clearly carrying some weight here. How is he responding and reacting to this hold-up?

SERFATY: Yeah. This is really an interesting dynamic which Capitol Hill is already complicated dynamics enough within the Republican conference and within Democrats too, but then you have this added layer of Elon Musk now inserting himself into the conversation, and we heard from many lawmakers today really venting their frustrations that he is part of this conversation and has such oversized -- outsized influence, the fact that they note that Musk is an unelected official having so much sway. He really stoked a lot of the fire yesterday, when he on X was tweeting out his opposition to the bill and encouraging others to do so, and that's what ultimately led to the implosion of this bill.

So, it will be interesting to see what role he has, especially vis-a- vis Speaker Johnson and fights coming up in the future.

SOLOMON: Yeah. It certainly will be. Sunlen Serfaty at Capitol Hill, thank you.

SERFATY: Thanks.

SOLOMON: And after a rocky week so far on Wall Street, let's take a look at where the markets stand today, especially looking at the Dow. The Dow is up, which is a nice change. It's up almost 300 points, or let's call it seven tenth of one. It's been a rocky week and a half for the Dow. It's yesterday tumbled 1,100 points on Wednesday. That was its 10th losing session in a row, something it hasn't done in decades. Even though the U.S. Federal Reserve cut interest rates for a third time this year, a few words from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell were enough to trigger the selling on Wednesday. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEROME POWELL, CHAIR OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE OF THE UNITED STATES: As long as the economy and the labor market are solid, we can be cautious about -- as we consider further cuts, which is another reason to be cautious about further moves. There is uncertainty, uncertainty around inflation. I pointed out. It's appropriate to move cautiously. It's a new phase, and we're going to be cautious about further cuts.

SOLOMON: All right. And still ahead for us, Vladimir Putin says that Russia is making advances along the entire front line in Ukraine, putting a positive spin on the war during his year-end news conference. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:35:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SOLOMON: Welcome back. You are watching CNN Newsroom. I'm Rahel Solomon live in New York.

Russian President Vladimir Putin says that his troops are making advances along the entire front line in Ukraine. Speaking in his annual year-end news conference in Moscow, Putin maintained Russia is in a stronger position now than when he ordered the attack on Ukraine in 2022.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (Interpreted): The situation is changing dramatically. Movement is taking place along the entire front line every day. And as I already said, we are not talking about advancing by 100, 200, 300 meters. Our fighters are taking back territory by square kilometers, I want to emphasize, every day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: Let's get more now from CNN contributor Jill Dougherty. She is our former Moscow Bureau Chief and is now an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University. Jill, good to have you. This was a long press conference, four and a half hours. What stands out to you --

JILL DOUGHERTY, ADJUNCT PROFESSOR, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY, & CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes.

SOLOMON: -- from what we heard?

DOUGHERTY: I would say that he had two audiences. So, there are the domestic people, and then there is the international crowd. So, domestically, and the majority of questions were domestic, they were a lot about the economy. And so, what he is trying to say is, look, the economy is doing fine. Yes, we have inflation, but things are under control. And by the way, we are a more sovereign nation than we've ever been, and we can survive by ourselves, etc. So, pep talk to the people. But, it was really significant how in the weeds they got, talking about mortgages, etc.

For the international crowd, I think his message was, we're doing just fine. Everything is going according to plan in Ukraine. Interestingly, when he talked about Kursk, that area of Russia that the Ukrainians invaded a while ago, he said, we're going to push them out. He couldn't say exactly by when. But, notably, he didn't mention those North Koreans who are helping the Russians. And then also, there was quite a bit, and we can talk about this, about Trump, and he even got into Joe Biden pardoning his son. SOLOMON: Yeah. Yeah. It certainly covered a lot of grounds. As you said, it was pretty broad, but then pretty specific as well. We actually have, Jill, that comment from Putin on the Kursk region that we can play for our audience. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PUTIN (Interpreted): There is no doubt. I cannot and do not want to name a specific date when they will push the Ukrainian armed forces out of the Kursk region. The guys are fighting. There is a battle going on right now, and serious battles. It is unclear why. There was no military sent and Ukrainian armed forces entering the Kursk region are holding on there now, as they are doing, throwing their best units there to be slaughtered. But, nevertheless, it is happening. We will definitely push them out. There is no other way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: And Jill, as you pointed out, interestingly, no comment of the North Koreans who are helping the Russians in that region. Read between the lines there. I mean, what did you read into that?

DOUGHERTY: Well, he would never want to really admit that one of the ways they're fighting and trying to push the Ukrainians out is by having to go to North Korea to get people to fight. But, one of his dilemmas is, if he has a full mobilization among his domestic people, it might have to affect big cities, and big cities have middle class people, and middle class people, for the most part, are not fighting in this war for Russia. It's really poor people, people from ethnic areas, minority areas, etc. So, he doesn't, I'm sure, want to go there and talk about that.

SOLOMON: And it's always interesting, Jill, I think, when you see these world leaders speak what they don't say, but also what they do say, and how they say, just his demeanor. What did you make of Putin's demeanor? He was cracking jokes at times. I mean, what does that tell you about his thinking, and perhaps how he is viewing the war in Ukraine right now?

DOUGHERTY: Well, I think he did look confident. That said, this is a big performance. This is to put no -- nothing is left behind in making sure that this show is very big, very impressive. It's on all the channels in Russia, and they even said they got a two and a quarter million questions from Russians and they had AI helping them to sort them.

[11:40:00]

So, this is a big deal.

But, I think what he is trying to say is, he is trying to say, I'm winning. Ukraine can't do anything. And his other message is very careful, I think, dealing with incoming President Trump. He says, Yes, I'm open to discussing etc., but he doesn't really get specific. And I think that is because he doesn't know exactly what Trump is going to propose. And so, that lack of predictability, I think, is where Putin steps up to the edge, says, Yes, I'm prepared, but he doesn't get into the details yet.

SOLOMON: Yeah. That is such an interesting point. And on the relationship with Trump, between Putin and Trump, he said -- Putin said that he and Trump haven't spoken in four years. There are some reports that dispute that. But then he also said that he is ready for a meeting with Trump if he wants it, if Trump wants it, which is the pattern we sometimes see with him and with Putin and Trump, that he is willing if Trump makes the request. Jill, your thoughts.

DOUGHERTY: Well, there was a very interesting question from the NBC reporter who said, Mr. President, look at your situation right now. He said, the war isn't going the way you want. You have an assassination of a general in Moscow. You have drones hitting Moscow, etc. You enter, and this is, quote, "you're entering this in a weakened position" vis-a-vis Trump. And Putin, of course, did not want to answer that. That's not a question he would want to talk about. So, he said, Russia is -- you're saying Russia is in a weaker position, but Russia is not. It's much stronger. So, there really is a little bit of tension that you see in the media, in Russia and in the United States, of this kind of who is stronger, Putin or Trump, and I think that will be a very interesting dynamic to watch as time goes on here, as we --

SOLOMON: Yeah.

DOUGHERTY: -- get into January.

SOLOMON: Yeah. You took the words right out of my mouth, just truly fascinating dynamic to watch.

Jill Dougherty, great to have you. Thank you.

And still ahead, we are learning more about the home life of the teenager who carried out that deadly shooting at her Wisconsin school. We'll be right back.

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SOLOMON: Welcome back. CNN is learning more about the teenager who police say killed two people and wounded six others at her Wisconsin school on Monday. Investigators are looking into a possible connection between the shooter and a 20-year-old California man who authorities say was plotting a mass shooting with the teenager. Officials have identified the two people killed on Monday. One is 14-year-old student Rubi Vergara. 42-year-old teacher Erin Michelle West also died.

CNN's Whitney Wild has the latest developments from Madison, Wisconsin.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

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.

[11:45:00] 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 quote, "We have been loving every second of it." She is 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 at 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 is 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 loved everyone at our school, and she would have 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 (ph), 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)

SOLOMON: All right. And still to come for us, America's ambitious new climate goal in Joe Biden's final month in office, a plan that Donald Trump will likely try to undo. That's coming up next.

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[11:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SOLOMON: In the twilight of his presidency, Joe Biden just unveiled America's ambitious new climate goals, which Donald Trump will surely want to scrap. The Biden administration's new target under the Paris Climate Agreement is for American greenhouse gas emissions to fall by between 61 percent and 66 percent by 2035. Long before then, though, Trump wants to once again pull the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement.

Let's bring in our Chief Climate Correspondent Bill Weir, who is live for us. Bill, this is kind of an awkward dynamic between the two on this issue. So, what's the new target, and what does this really signify?

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Well, it uses American ambitions more than it had before the Inflation Reduction Act, the Democrats' signature legislation. Studies show that it will get the country to about 50 percent of those goals. Now, Biden going to 61 percent to 66 percent, ambitious, even if Kamala Harris were to win. That's a tough one to meet.

But, it really speaks to the urgency of the crisis, and also just setting that standard, regardless of American politics, that the world will continue this fight, Democrat big cities' governors will continue this fight in the United States, regardless of Donald Trump's hostility to the topic at hand, and some of the momentum is sort of built in in terms of electric vehicles, for example. The EPA under Biden tried to agree with California, saying they going to limit the sales of those, no new gas-powered cars by 2035. Trump will certainly try to challenge that. But, it could take a couple of years in court. And so, auto manufacturers, for example, have to follow where the customers are going, and that's where the rest of the world is going, regardless of Trump politics.

SOLOMON: Yeah. And Bill, I mean, to that point, what are some of the larger climate fears when it comes to Trump coming back to office? WEIR: Well, he has made massive promises to oil and gas producers in

exchange for campaign support, pretty much pure deregulation, with the promise that he is going to bring electricity and gas prices down for Americans. Most economists say that no President has that power. In fact, when Donald Trump was President back in 2020, when OPEC and the pandemic caused oil prices to crater, and gas was $1.50 a gallon, it was really bad for U.S. oil companies. So, he was forced to go to Saudi Arabia and Russia and ask them to decrease production so the prices will go back up.

Just a little history lesson reminder that it is the global markets that determine these energy prices by and large, and a lot of the momentum in these markets is going towards away from fossil fuels, towards electrification. So, that momentum could be slowed down, certainly by a Trump presidency right now, but there is enough of sort of battery factories and clean energy projects happening in deep red states that Ali Zaidi and John Podesta, the Biden sort of climate czars, thinks that that effort has sort of reached exit velocity, to use a rocket metaphor, and regardless of the Trump gravitational pull, it will keep going that way.

SOLOMON: Yeah. You've made the point before. It's a good one too, just to the economic incentives and sometimes politics being what they are. Sometimes the economics are hard to avoid or ignore.

Bill Weir, thank you.

WEIR: You bet.

SOLOMON: Before we go, one more thing. There is less than two weeks ago, this is so hard to even admit and believe, but there is less than two weeks to go until the world brings in the New Year. And in New York, they're getting ready for the big countdown.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three, two, one, Happy New Year. Yeah.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: That is the official 2025 sign that will appear in Times Square on New Year's Eve. The LED-powered numbers will stay on the ground until Monday, then the sign will be put up on one Times Square where it will light up when the clock strikes midnight to welcome in 2025. And CNN will have special coverage of New Year's Eve across the globe. Tune in December 31st at midday London time in time to follow the festivities all the way from the fireworks in Sydney, Australia, to the ball drop at midnight in New York City.

[11:55:00]

It's crazy. Two weeks. Two weeks.

All right. Speaking of time, we know your time is money. So, thank you for spending some time with me today. I'm Rahel Solomon live in New York. Stick with CNN. One World is coming up next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)