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Woman Killed After Being Set On Fire On NYC Subway Train; Trump Suggests Meeting Putin Soon, Calls For U.S. Version Of "Iron Dome", Wants To Rename Largest Mountain In Alaska; 2 Navy Pilots Safely Eject After Jet Shot Down Over Red Sea; U.S. Carries Out Strikes Against Houthi Targets In Yemen; Tomorrow: Murder Suspect Faces State Arraignment In New York; House Ethics Committee Expected To Release Gaetz Report Monday; Some Experts Doubt Trump's Promises To Cut Energy Prices. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired December 22, 2024 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:00]

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

MICHAEL KEMPER, MTA CHIEF SECURITY OFFICER: There must be strong, swift consequences on this person, and I use that term lightly, who committed this brutal, brutal homicide. There is no room in civilized society for people like him to be walking around.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: CNN's Gloria Pazmino has been following this story. Gloria, what more can you tell us?

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jessica, just like you said, it is just a horrendous, tragic incident that took place early this morning inside the F train in Brooklyn at the Stilwell Avenue station in Coney Island.

Now, police tell us that there was a woman who appeared to be sleeping inside that subway car. The train was not moving at the time. And then there was this other man who approached her seemingly out of nowhere and used a lighter to light a blanket that she was covered in. That blanket quickly set ablaze, setting her in flames.

There were police officers that were patrolling the station at the time who smelled the smoke, saw the smoke, and quickly responded, but they were simply too late when they tried to put her out. EMS also responded to the scene, and they pronounced her dead inside that subway car.

Now, it's been several hours, but in the last two hours, we heard from police officials after they were able to make an arrest. So there's two important details to this incident. One, just a horrific nature of what happened here, but the very important role that technology played.

And the reason I say that is because police very quickly were able to put out photos of the suspect they were looking for. And they got those photos from cameras that have been recently installed on the subway system. The New York City subway system for the first time has 100 percent coverage with these cameras.

And so the combination of technology and good police work led to the quick capture of this suspect who is now in custody of the police department. I want you to take a listen to the police commissioner just describing what happened today and talking about the work that they did to capture this person.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

JESSICA TISCH, NEW YORK CITY POLICE COMMISSIONER: Someone who we believe carried out one of the most depraved crimes one person could possibly commit against another human being. And it took the life of an innocent New Yorker. But at this hour, I am pleased to announce that a short time ago, alert NYPD transit officers took a person of interest into custody.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

PAZMINO: That person was actually taken into custody in midtown Manhattan, very far from the scene. But it was actually after three high school-aged New Yorkers saw him and reported it to the police. That's what the law enforcement officials told us earlier today, that it was because of that call that they were able to apprehend him.

So, again, the combination of technology, the photo being out there quickly, and police working to apprehend this individual. But, Jessica, this is happening as there is a really wide and ongoing discussion about public safety, not just here in New York City, but specifically in the transit system.

Just a few days ago, Governor Kathy Hochul deployed additional -- an additional number of National Guard service members into the subway system to help with public safety, especially right now during the holiday season, where the crowds are much larger and there's a lot of tourists in the city.

But there's a lot of criticism that that is not enough. There's also the other aspect of this, which is that it's believed that the victim here was a homeless person who was sheltering from the cold. It's been extremely cold here in the last few days. And people who are homeless often take shelter in the subway system.

So, two really significant and difficult-to-tackle issues that public officials here in New York City will certainly be asking questions about in the next few days. Jessica?

DEAN: Yes. Gloria Pazmino, thank you very much.

And joining us now is Retired NYPD Captain John Monaghan. He's also the author of a series of detective novels, the latest of which is called "The Guns of Antwerp". It's great to have you here with us.

I just want to start first with your general thoughts. We have a little bit more information now that we've heard from the NYPD commissioner and others just a little bit ago. What do you make of this crime and also how they were able to find and arrest the suspect?

JOHN MONAGHAN, RETIRED NYPD CAPTAIN: It's great that they were able to find and arrest the suspect. Jessica, you mentioned and your reporter mentioned the technology playing a role in this. And, you know, the cameras in the subway, when you look at the footage captured by the camera in the car, that's one thing.

Then you look, the really clear photo came from the cop's body camera. I don't know what the teenagers were looking at or what app they were looking on, but it's the use of this technology. It's great having those cameras in the subway cars. That captured a lot.

I believe the photo from the cop's body-worn camera was very clear. What I'm getting at is nothing beats having a cop on patrol and deployment and then being on the job, being alert, being at their station.

[19:05:06]

You know, this will -- Jessica, what do you think of the chances that this perp paid his fare to access the system? Slim to none, I'm sure. They'll probably backtrack and see exactly where and when he did enter the system.

But this starts at the turnstile. This starts with fare beating. 90 percent, 90 percent of gun calls made in the subway system by transit cops are made up of turnstiles when they stop fare beats. It's -- the solution has been simple for a long time, and the cops are locking these guys up.

There's record numbers of arrests the last couple of years in this attempt to combat subway crime, but they're letting them go. They lock them up, they're right back out. Used to be, you stop a fare beat, they have a warrant, you take them into the system, and they're off -- you know, they were in the system for a while then, not anymore.

I mean, it really -- you know, the chief of the MTA security there, he mentioned --

DEAN: I was going to say, I heard him say that. Yes. And it was interesting. He said that, too. He said now it's -- he really put it on the prosecutors now to move forward with this.

MONAGHAN: Right, right. The cops keep locking up the same people. Jessica, 6 percent of the ridership that don't pay their fare. That's -- it's a large number because we've got millions of riders, but it's the same people over and over again.

The cops did a great job. You know, I had Commissioner Miller on earlier today. I listened to that, and he talked about how the seeds that were planted by Jessica Tisch when she worked in the I.T. department and the police department have come to fruition today.

It reminds me of, you know, the history of the transit police is that they were a separate department until, you know, Bill Bratton was the police commissioner, and then they merged with the NYPD. And if you're going to put, like, the governor's talking about National Guard, it'll help as long as we keep them up by the turnstiles.

When we graduate cops from our academy and they're going to be assigned to transit, they've got to go to a separate transit academy to police those platforms and those tunnels. It's a whole other world down there. You get into those tunnels, green lights, yellow lights, you have to know what each one means.

It's a life threatening situation chasing someone into those tunnels. And if you don't know exactly what you're doing, you don't belong down there. So, you know, National Guard, they'll help as long as we keep them up top by the turnstiles. But that's where the fare beats -- you got to stop the fare beats because this guy didn't pay his fare. I'll bet my career on that.

DEAN: That's it. And when you say fare beats, just for everyone watching and just for my own, you're talking about people that go in and don't pay their fare when you normally you would click or you swipe your phone or a card, pay your fare, go through the turnstile. You're talking about people that jump over the turnstile or don't pay their fares.

MONAGHAN: Exactly right.

DEAN: Yes.

MONAGHAN: Exactly right.

DEAN: And so --

MONAGHAN: Most of the criminals enter the subway (INAUDIBLE).

DEAN: Yes. And I also wanted to ask you just specifically about this suspect, the victim as well. We still don't have an identification on the victim. They said they're working to do that. We know it was a woman who died from her injuries with the suspect.

Again, we don't have -- they didn't give us a lot of information on that either. Only that he had arrived from Guatemala in 2018, as John Miller, you noted, was reporting that they're now trying to kind of process through, get more information about him as well. What do you glean from all of that?

MONAGHAN: The chief of MTA in his press conference, and I think the police commissioner also mentioned, you know, that he didn't want to call him a person. And he talked about something like this doesn't happen in a civilized society.

This perpetrator, I don't think came from a civilized society. Those three teenagers that made the call, that's civilized society. And, you know, I'd like to know what app were they looking at and that they recognized him and made that call. But this guy came from -- I mean, there is a culture here of, you know, like I said, 6 percent of the ridership fare beats that they don't pay their fare. Very small number.

Criminals in our society, it's the same number of people. It's a small percentage of people creating the large percentage of crime. And in a civilized society, something like this guy, he wasn't stealing anything. He was -- this was a deeply psychotic act.

And then to sit there and watch it? What kind of a human being does that? You know, this is not someone that understands how New Yorkers live, how Americans live. This is just -- it's so far off any other crime that you typically see.

I can't even understand it. But again --

DEAN: Yes.

MONAGHAN: -- thank God, the cop that were on patrol captured him with their body cameras. And those three young teenagers, kudos to them. I hope they get a reward of some kind.

DEAN: All right, we'll see. We'll see what happens if they get a reward of some kind.

John Monaghan, thank you very much. We appreciate it.

MONAGHAN: Thank you.

DEAN: Let's turn to politics now. The Panama Canal, TikTok renaming an American mountain, meeting Vladimir Putin and building a potential Iron Dome for America. President-elect Donald Trump ping-ponging through various issues at a conservative event in Phoenix today.

CNN's Steve Contorno is joining us now from West Palm Beach with the latest on this.

[19:10:04]

Steve, this was kind of billed as his first big rally, big speech since he won this election. What more did he say?

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER: Well, Jessica, it was very reminiscent of a campaign style speech. In fact, some of the lines I've heard probably dozens of times in the past year and a half. But there was some new ground that he traversed as well.

You mentioned TikTok. He opened the door to allowing them to operate in the country once he takes president. They potentially were supposed to be banned under a new federal law.

He also talked about sitting down with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the Ukraine war, which he has promised to solve within the first day of taking office. He didn't speak a lot about what happened this past week, where we saw this fight on Capitol Hill over overspending and him losing to some of his close Republican allies.

But he did respond to the attacks from Democrats that his co- conspirator in blowing up the funding negotiations, Elon Musk, is now sort of in charge of the government. Take a listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP) DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: The new one is President Trump has ceded the presidency to Elon Musk. No, no, that's not happening. But Elon's done an amazing job. Isn't it nice to have smart people that we can rely on?

No, he's not going to be president that I can tell you. And I'm safe. You know why? He can't be. He wasn't born in this country.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

CONTORNO: Now, one thing he also brought up that he has been posting on social media is this idea of taking back control of the Panama Canal that has been in the hands of Panama for half of a century. But Donald Trump's suggesting that there is something the U.S. can do to potentially get prices down for people who use the canal for shipping and potentially taking back control of it, though he offered little insight into how he might do that, Jessica.

DEAN: All right, Steve Contorno from West Palm Beach, thanks so much for that.

Still to come tonight, a real risk. That's how a top Biden adviser describes the possibility of Iran reviving its nuclear plans after the fall of Syria's Assad regime.

And friendly fire. What we know about a U.S. Navy ship accidentally shooting down an American fighter jet here in the CNN Newsroom.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:17:19]

DEAN: Two Navy pilots are lucky to be alive after their fighter jet was shot down over the Red Sea in an apparent friendly fire incident. U.S. Central Command saying the F/A-18 was operating in the waters of the Middle East when it was mistakenly fired upon by the USS Gettysburg.

Our Julia Benbrook is joining us from the White House. Julia, what more do we know?

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, U.S. Central Command is calling this an apparent friendly fire incident. They've said that the two U.S. Navy pilots were safely ejected after their fighter jet was shot down over the Red Sea on Saturday. And initial assessments have found that one crew member did sustain minor injuries.

Here's what else we know so far. Now, CENTCOM has said that the aircraft and F/A-18 was operating from the USS Harry S. Truman when it was mistakenly fired upon by the USS Gettysburg. The USS Gettysburg, a Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser, is a part of the Truman Carrier Strike Group, which entered the waters of the Middle East one week ago.

Now, as we've mentioned, this investigation is ongoing, but we do have an idea of the types of questions that will be asked, including what the sailors on the USS Gettysburg saw, what they thought was coming at them, and why they fired.

DEAN: All right, Julia. Also, we wanted to see what you've learned about the incident, because it's coming after the U.S. carried out these airstrikes against Houthi targets in Yemen. Is this connected? Do we know any more about that?

BENBROOK: Well, the apparent friendly fire incident happened the same day that the U.S. carried out airstrikes against Houthi targets in Yemen, hitting a command and control facility as well as a missile storage facility. And the U.S. said that they also shot down one-way attack drones and an anti-ship cruise missile.

Now, those strikes did involve the same type of fighter jet, an F/A- 18, but U.S. military officials have told our team that the downed jet that we have been speaking about was not involved. And, Jessica, in a statement earlier today, Yemen's Houthi rebels claimed that they shot down the F/A-18 aircraft over the Red Sea.

The group has repeatedly made false claims of striking U.S. warships in the area. And again, U.S. officials have been calling this an apparent friendly fire incident.

DEAN: All right, Julia Benbrook at the White House, thank you so much for that.

Let's bring in Retired Air Force Colonel and CNN Military Analyst Cedric Leighton to talk about this. Let's just start first with what, Julia, was just running down, Colonel, how does this happen, this friendly fire incident? Thankfully, these two pilots are OK. But how did this happen?

[19:20:02]

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes, Jessica, this is one of those moments when you don't want to be on the Gettysburg. And in this particular case, what happened apparently was a misidentification of the aircraft. This could be a very busy area from a military aircraft and flight picture (ph) standpoint.

So there's a possibility that the IFF or Identification Friend or Foe system on board the F/A-18 was not functioning properly. That is one possibility that would then potentially lead to a misidentification on board the Gettysburg.

If that happened, then there are other ways to ascertain whether or not an aircraft is a friendly or an adversarial aircraft. But that could have potentially caused an issue for those who are trying to identify and protect the Gettysburg as well as the Truman carrier strike group.

DEAN: Is this something -- I hear what you're saying about this particular area. Does this happen often?

LEIGHTON: Not as much as it used to. In the old days, you know, if you go back to World War II, it happened all the time. And as our technology got better and better and IFF systems were developed so that you could actually identify based on a transponder which aircraft were flying where and which ones were yours, so that really helped a lot.

Plus, there are other sources of information that the Navy and the Air Force use to determine whether or not an aircraft is a friendly or an adversarial aircraft. And so this type of incident is much less common than it used to be. But sometimes these incidents can be a real disaster, such as in the 1980s when we shot down an Iranian civilian airliner over the Persian Gulf.

Again, similar region, you know, basically on the other side of the Arabian Peninsula. That was an absolute disaster and should never have happened. And this could have been a much greater disaster than it is.

DEAN: I also want to talk to you about Iran and what National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan is saying about that. He spoke with CNN's Fareed Zakaria earlier talking about what a weakened Iran could mean and if it could potentially go back to trying to get nuclear weapons. Let's listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

JAKE SULLIVAN, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: One of those things is if you're Iran right now and you're looking around at the fact that your conventional capability has been reduced, your proxies have been reduced, your main client state has been eliminated, Assad has fallen, it's no wonder there are voices saying, hey, maybe we need to go for a nuclear weapon right now.

That is a real risk. It's a risk we are trying to be vigilant about now. It's a risk that I'm personally briefing the incoming team on. I was just in Israel consulting with the Israelis on this risk. And it's something that is the consequence not of Iranian strength, but of Iranian weakness. And that's the kind of thing that in a dynamic and challenging Middle East, American statecraft is going to have to account for.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

DEAN: What do you think about that?

LEIGHTON: Yes, Jessica, I think Jake Sullivan is spot on. Basically, what he's saying is that if the Iranians are backed into a corner, they may very well resort to the development of a nuclear weapon to protect themselves and to protect, as they would see it, their state from being eliminated. So that's a very dangerous course of events.

But it kind of goes to the, we'll call it the Libyan lesson, where Libya gave up its nascent nuclear capabilities. And what happened to Muammar Gaddafi was, of course, he was got -- he was toppled, and Libya has basically become a completely failed state now. So Iran is trying to avoid a similar fate.

And it's, you know, kind of what you see in North Korea, where they've developed nuclear weapons on their own, much further along than the Iranians are, as far as we know. And they are basically doing this in order to keep their state alive. So the Iranians might have a similar philosophy.

The key will be to make sure that the Iranians don't feel that they're backed into a corner. And that requires a very diplomatic hand at this point.

DEAN: And then there's also the Russia piece of this, because Moscow has been weakened by the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria as well. How has that impacted Putin's position with the war in Ukraine? And then you factor in, too, the change coming at the White House.

LEIGHTON: Yes, those are big changes all around. As far as, you know, Putin losing access to bases in Syria, or at least potentially losing that, what you see is the Russians are moving potentially some assets into Libya.

So that makes for, you know, potentially interesting dynamic in the Mediterranean, where they could still pose a danger to U.S. and NATO forces, but from a different vantage point, a more southern vantage point in this case. So that's one possibility.

[19:25:00]

But another thing that they're dealing with, of course, is the fact that they were not able to rescue Assad. So that paints the Russians in a very weak light. And that means that a lot of the foreign countries, from Africa all the way to Ukraine, that were either relying on or fighting the Russians, are looking at things very differently.

And so when it comes to the Ukrainians, they are trying to exploit some degree of weakness that the Russians are showing. And it's going to be, I think, a race of the different clocks, the Russian clock versus the Ukrainian clock to see who gets the most territory before any type of negotiations happen under the new Trump administration.

DEAN: All right. Colonel Cedric Leighton, great to see you. Thanks so much for being here.

LEIGHTON: You bet, Jessica. Anytime.

DEAN: Ahead, after a perp walk straight out of a movie, the man charged with killing the healthcare CEO, Brian Thompson, is set to go before a New York judge tomorrow.

Also tomorrow, the likely release of an ethics report focused on President-elect Trump's first pick for Attorney General, Matt Gaetz. You're in the CNN Newsroom.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:30:27]

DEAN: Tomorrow, the suspected killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO is due in court to face his arraignment on several charges from New York State prosecutors. The state case includes charges of murder and terrorism. Luigi Mangione is facing a separate federal prosecution as well, including one count of murder. That count is eligible for the death penalty.

We'll bring in defense attorney Misty Marris. Misty, thanks so much for being here with us. Take us to tomorrow and what we can expect.

MISTY MARRIS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: So, tomorrow is the New York state case, and this is where Luigi Mangione has been indicted, meaning that a grand jury convened and determined that there was probable cause, that a crime was committed, and that he is the one that committed the crime.

So, he will go into court tomorrow. He will presumably plead not guilty. There could be a discussion of bail, which his attorneys may make an argument, although it is very unlikely, if not impossible, for him to actually receive bail. But that's how the proceeding is going to play out. We are likely to get that not guilty plea on the record, and then the next step will be a potential preliminary hearing off to the races towards trial.

DEAN: And then there's this question of do you have the state charges that I just talked about? And then you have the federal charges as well. How do those interact with each other? Affect each other?

MARRIS: Yes. So this is the state case as we just spoke about. An indictment has already been done. In the federal case it's at the complaint stage. So, the next step is for a preliminary hearing to be held that's scheduled for the end of January, or a grand jury could convene and indict in the interim. So the timing and the procedural posture is a little bit different for both, but the facts of the case has overlapped tremendously.

The legal theories, however, are very different. In the federal case, it's about stalking Thompson that Mangione over interstate lines. He came from Atlanta to New York for the purpose of killing Thompson with a firearm, so that's the federal case. Whereas the state case relates to this amplifier of in furtherance of terrorism, that that's why the murder was committed. So the legal theories are a bit different.

But what we saw, Jessica, in that criminal complaint, which related to the federal charges, all of these excerpts from the manifesto, they actually are very relevant to the New York state case, where prosecutors will have to prove motive. They'll have to prove that the motive is more than just a personal vendetta, that there is a broader purpose to impact a policy or to force or coerce a civilian population.

So, there's a lot of overlapping factors that will be at play. Although the cases proceed in two different courtrooms.

DEAN: I'm also curious what your take is on the potential impact in the courtroom or in this case, for all of the public fascination support for Luigi Mangione.

I mean, even on "SNL" last night when they were making a joke, they just said his name and the audience went crazy. And Colin Jost kind of was like, oh, this, you know, okay, it is it is kind of remarkable. But what kind of real world impact could that have? MARRIS: The response is shocking, and I watched that "SNL" skit also, and just the audience's enthusiasm for just his name being spoken is very shocking.

So from a legal perspective, there are considerations that will need to be taken into account when you're selecting a jury. There's a couple of issues the prosecutors will look out for.

One is what's called jury nullification. That's when jurors may go against what they believe to be the right outcome, meaning that they think the evidence is there to convict, but actually make a determination based on a public policy perspective or something outside of what happens in the courtroom. That's of course, going to be an issue in a case like this where we're seeing this type of response to the defendant.

There's also something called the stealth juror, and that's a juror who wants to be in that jury pool, wants to be in that courtroom for the purpose of impacting the outcome of the case, one way or another, have to look out for that. And then from a defense perspective, he's innocent until proven guilty. So you need a fair trial too, so, voir dire process will be laborious to say the least.

DEAN: All right, Misty Marris, great to see you. Thanks so much for being here.

MARRIS: Thank you.

DEAN: Tomorrow, the House Ethics Committee is expected to release its report on former Congressman Matt Gaetz. That's according to two sources familiar with the timing. The multiyear probe investigated several allegations against the Florida Republican, including whether he engaged in sexual misconduct or if he used illicit drugs. Gaetz has denied all allegations.

CNN's Brian Abel has the latest on this.

Brian, much was made over this report when Gaetz was initially going to be the nominee for attorney general, whether it would come out, whether it wouldn't come out. Now, he's no longer the nominee, and it sounds like its coming out.

[19:35:18]

BRIAN ABEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. now it is coming out. What a whirlwind it was. We do know, Jessica, that some of the individuals who made the original allegations talk to the Ethics Committee. So, we should expect to know more about what those people told committee investigators about Matt Gaetz and his behavior, as well as who else the committee talked to and their conclusions.

It was earlier this week when we learned that the House Ethics Committee had a secret vote to release its report into the conduct of former Rep. Matt Gaetz. And now, we know when.

Multiple sources telling CNN the report will be released tomorrow. This release is a pretty stark reversal by the committee, which just last month voted to shelve the report after Gaetz resigned from Congress once he became President-elect Donald Trump's pick for attorney general.

Now, Gaetz withdrew himself from consideration of that role after Trump called him to say Gaetz didn't have enough votes in the Senate to get confirmed. The report, that Ethics report, it concludes a years' long probe by the Ethics Committee into numerous allegations against Gaetz, including whether he engaged in sexual misconduct with a minor, whether he paid for sex, used illicit drugs, shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, and more.

Now, Gaetz has strongly denied all the allegations and has said the committee's investigation is a witch hunt, saying this on X after reports of the committee's decision to release the report. "The Biden- Garland DOJ spent years reviewing allegations that I committed various crimes. I was charged with nothing, fully exonerated.

Now, the post went on to say, "It's embarrassing, though not criminal that I probably partied, womanized, drank, and smoked more than I should have earlier in life. I live a different life now."

We should also note, Jessica, that it is rare for an Ethics report to be released after a member has left Congress, though it has happened on a couple of occasions in the past.

DEAN: And Gaetz also spoke today at that Turning Point conference. Did he talk about this at all?

ABEL: He did not address it directly, though he did allude to it. This is pretty interesting because Gaetz has said he has no plans of returning to the House next year. As a result, house speaker mike Johnson, he called that report a moot point and advocated for it to not be released at all.

But here's what Gaetz said this morning at that conference.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATT GAETZ (R) FORMER US REPRESENTATIVE: And some of you throughout this conference have you even given me a few suggestions. My fellow Floridians have asked me to eye the Governor's Mansion in Tallahassee, maybe special counsel to go after the insider trading for my former colleagues in Congress.

It seems I may not have had enough support in the United States Senate, maybe I'll just run for Marco Rubio's vacant seat in the United States Senate and join some of those folks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: Now, we are expecting this report to be released tomorrow. But when tomorrow? That is still an open question -- Jessica.

DEAN: All right, Brian Abel, thanks so much for that. Winter storms, staffing shortages, just a few of the pitfalls facing holiday travelers this week. How you can plan a detour around those travel roadblocks.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:43:09]

DEAN: Holiday travel is in full swing. It is shaping up to be a record breaker. Nearly 120 million Americans are expected to travel at least 50 miles from home. That's what AAA says.

But wintry weather is causing some headaches. The forecast is not looking too bad Monday and Tuesday, but there is some potential for some delays in the north and a series of storms set to hit California's Northern Coast, which could cause some flooding. You know, you just never know if you're traveling for the Holidays, listen up.

Because joining us now is Clint Henderson from "The Points Guy" to help navigate this madness. Good to see you, Clint. Thanks so much for being here with us.

Listen, we're anticipating a really big surge in travel almost back to where we were before the pandemic. What are you tracking as we head into this travel season?

CLINT HENDERSON, MANAGING EDITOR, "THE POINTS GUY": Yes, it's remarkable, but let me just share some good news. The good news is, even with some weather systems, we have not seen the airlines melt down like we have in years past. So, I do believe the airlines are in better position even during severe weather now. We are seeing less delays, less cancellations. It doesn't spread into multiple days. Now, we haven't been tested with a super, super huge storm like we did in 2022.

But I do think the airlines are staffed up no -- staffed up enough now that they're able to recover more quickly. So, that's good news. We are seeing a lot of storms the next couple of days. So, I'm here in San Francisco and I think we're going to see an atmospheric river kind of pummel us. So, I'll be tracking that.

The other thing I'm watching is air traffic control shortages in the northeast. That has been an issue for Newark Airport especially. So, that's one to watch as well.

DEAN: Okay, that's good. And what are your tips for -- what are your best tips for people getting ready to travel?

HENDERSON: So, first of all, remember knowledge is power. So, you want to have the airline app installed on your phone because not only can you track your flights that way, a lot of times Wi-Fi and your entertainment even is coming through that airline app. And then the other thing you can do sometimes is get cheap upgrades. And who doesn't want a cheap upgrade? Especially this time of year when there's no business travelers.

[19:45:05]

So, how that airline app installed in your phone. You really want to be knowing what's happening at the airport you're leaving from and the airport you're going to. So, if you see a severe storm and you see all the flights at your local airport are canceled, maybe you re-jigger and you either go a day later or you try to get an alternate flight out.

So, you just really want to be prepared in these situations and know what other airlines are flying that route. So, if you're flying from New York to San Francisco, you want to know if American has a flight you can get on or Delta if something goes wrong with your airline. So, a little knowledge goes a long way.

DEAN: Always good to be flexible and able to maneuver, that's for sure. So, last question do you check a bag?

HENDERSON: So, I don't I'm team carry on only, except this time of year because I bring presents from New York --

DEAN: Presents, I know, yes.

HENDERSON: --to California to see my family, so, I just got an air tag for the first time and it blew my mind. These things are the super tech I recommend the air tag as a Christmas gift, because it's so fun to be able to track your bag and if things go wrong, you'll know exactly where your bag is. You can tell the airline employee and some airlines are even now letting you share your bag location with them to help you track that bag. So, I'm a believer now.

DEAN: All right, well there we go. Clint Henderson, thanks so much. We appreciate it.

HENDERSON: Happy Holidays.

DEAN: You too. Ahead, why it could be much easier said than done for President-elect Trump to make good on his promise to cut your energy bills in half.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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[19:50:57]

DEAN: Well, we're just talking about holiday travel and for those who may be feeling lucky this time of year, a potential windfall.

On Christmas Eve, one lottery ticket holder could be celebrating with a Mega Millions jackpot just shy of $1 billion. No one won on Friday, so the grand prize in Tuesday's Mega Millions drawing ballooned to $944 million. It is the largest prize ever offered in the month of December.

But if the winner chooses to take the jackpot all at once, the take home portion won't be so large, it will just be $429 million.

Cutting energy prices was one of President Trump's many campaign promises, but his cabinet picks in the changing economics of energy could make that complicated. CNN chief climate correspondent Bill Weir has more on this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP (R) PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: Frack, frack, frack and drill, drill, drill. Drill baby drill.

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): On the trail.

TRUMP: We're going to frack, frack, frack.

WEIR (voice over): Donald trump made some big energy promises.

TRUMP: ... and your energy bill within 12 months will be cut in half and that's my pledge all over the country.

WEIR (on camera): What's the reality of that? As he gets ready to take office?

BOB MCNALLY, FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT, RAPIDAN ENERGY: To quote Eminem, it's more it's more snip back to reality.

WEIR (voice over): But even Republican experts say, "Eh, don't count on it."

MCNALLY: Having worked for President George W. Bush and having looked, scoured the White House for a magic wand that can quickly lower oil prices or electricity prices, the truth is, it doesn't exist.

RYAN KELLOGG, PROFESSOR OF PUBLIC POLICY AND DEPUTY DEAN, UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO: The reality is that consumers, energy bills, producers, production volumes, they depend much more on the whims of the global marketplace than what any single president can do.

WEIR (voice over): And the US is already producing more fossil fuel for that market than any nation in history. So, drilling on more federal land, experts say, would not affect gas prices.

KELLOGG: Private land and shale is really where the action is. Federal land, you can tinker with things on the margin. Maybe get a couple additional hundred thousand barrels a day. You're not going to double US production or increase it by even 25 percent.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good afternoon.

WEIR (voice over): And remember when the pandemic and OPEC caused oil prices to crash? It was good for consumers, but horrible for US oil companies. So Trump asked Russia and Saudi Arabia to stop drilling so prices would go up. TRUMP: Making it so that our industry does well and the oil industry does better than it's doing right now.

MCNALLY: When does an American president call OPEC to cut production to raise oil prices? Answer: Never, except the second quarter of 2020.

Let me be very clear, from the industry's perspective, President Trump can and will implement regulatory and policy changes that will vastly improve the outlook for energy investment. But in terms of lowering oil prices near-term, roll electricity prices, that is very, very difficult for any president to do.

WEIR (voice over): Meanwhile, utility scale renewable energy is now cheaper than oil. China is switching to electric cars with such breathtaking speed and scale, its disrupting energy futures and around 90 percent of the projects waiting to get on the Texas grid are solar, plus batteries.

ANDREW DESSIER, TEXAS CENTER FOR CLIMATE STUDIES, TEXAS A&W UNIVERSITY: In batteries, if you look up a battery farm, you just nip money because you charge your batteries when electricity is cheap, you sell it six hours later when electricity is expensive. I mean, it's just a money making machine.

These developers are not Birkenstock wearing hippies who get in their VW bus and drive off. These are Texan energy developers who want to make money, and you make money with renewable energy, right now. It's the cheapest energy we have.

WEIR (on camera): And can Trump politics get in the way of that, or claw back that momentum in any way?

DESSIER: I think it's a real open question what is going to happen. Everybody needs to understand that a transition to renewable energy will fatten your wallet. You're going to walk out with a with a better economy, cleaner air, better National Security.

I mean, the benefits of this -- the clean energy transition are enormous for almost everybody. Not if you're a fossil fuel billionaire. They will not be better off in a clean energy. The fossil fuel billionaires will be worse off because of that, and because of the enormous political power they have they have been able to essentially capture the political process, to have politicians force us to continue using dirty, expensive fossil fuels.

WEIR (voice over): Bill Weir, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[19:55:29]

DEAN: Our thanks to Bill for that. And thank you for joining me this evening. I'm Jessica Dean. We're going to see you again next weekend. Have a great night.

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